A hollow wall. Its fixtures extend no light,
Its walkway turned into cracked and shattered glass.
The ivy walls are browning while mysterious creatures writhe
In its confines. A glance, and a door appears into a
Celestial hiding place. Inside resides a family
Unlike any other. Tulip and daisies once thrived here,
Now thorns have choked the faces I love.
Grass cannot grow where watering does not exist,
Neither can my memories in a place of corruptness.
This was my home.
No more.
Where has my childhood gone?
It no longer lives in these halls,
These monuments which echoed
My thoughts and screams; this woodwork
That bore my inscriptions; these windows
Through which I spied distant horizons.
This bed that comforted my tears.
A serene lake, it smelled of watery weeds,
In it swam a nobility of swans,
We stood there like firm guardians.
We watched in camaraderie and mutual friendship;
We were the forest wanderers.
Dirt engraved into my hands and stinging my eyes,
Results of overconfidence. Scrapes and cuts
Covered my body, but all I could understand was
The pain. This same pain was the only comfort
To surround me after these years disappeared.
My grandmother, in happiness and hidden discontent,
Labored in the pressing heat to make me more comfortable.
Her deft hands shook controllably as she weeded her yard.
The smell of her kitchen, the gleam of spring green.
This is past.
My grandfather, smoky and resigned,
Scratched my face with his wool sweater.
His face wore wrinkles and deep crevasses;
I understood his war.
He sat and watched silently, yet his grip on me
Was vast unexplainability.
He was past.
Those which are true, those that are right,
Pass into unconscious suffering. Those that are good,
Those that are true, betray and scorn and torture.
Those who are evil, lead me into innocent vileness.
I walk in the shadow, and I fear evil.
Ashes of the mighty walls blow vivid sanctity;
Hope resides in this dust.
The walls are tumbling, as Jericho and its parapets.
I stand firm in the central square as my life explodes
In psychedelic colors and burns into black.
Where am I?
