The Rainmaker
for Burt Lancaster
He comes to drought-stricken towns;
a saviour dressed in rattlesnake shoes,
riding on a pale Pegasus.
“There’s something in the air,” he says.
“Something in the air.”
He showers the folks with watery tales,
but his motives, like his origins,
aren’t so clear.
There is a solitude about him—
an abandoned kite soars across a barren sky.
At the core of this bravado is an insecurity,
but women seem to be giving him a go,
people are listening to this crock.
Even old Harry was seen
slipping him a few bills.
And when he flees town, Pegasus flies.
Behind them angry men chase,
but in vain:
“This clown has stolen the hearts of our maidens
and eloped with our hard-earned.”
—Damian Balassone, Melbourne AUSTRALIA
