August has cooled down for the fair,
For the cinnamon sugar donut air,
And dust and breeze and first gold leaf on the fairgrounds.

O holy prairie night.
Tonight the stars are outdone
By the dazzling lights on the edge of town.
The townspeople 
Walk the dirt aisles,
Past farm kids selling pulled pork in a white shed,
Past kids sitting with cows and sheep in a white barn.

Spinning in carnival circles,
below us, the townspeople parade,
For their communion of corn dogs and caramel apples
To pay for their indulgences at the ticket booths.

O holy night.
The farmers will be in the fields
(The harvest is yet to come),
Big sweaters will be unpacked
From trunks in the basement,
And Esther will serve her prize-winning pie to the neighbors
When this is all through.

Oh holy prairie night.
The music of the carousel and buzz of the electric lights:
Your benediction for a fading summer.