Echoes of The Garden

Absence seems to bother them,

I’m happy that I’m free.

No longer held in mind captivity.

Free, yet not.

I hear his footsteps in my mind,

If only I had known that night.

Cornfields in the distance

Chasing through the clouds

Wondering if I’m in a dream,

Or a nightmare.

Maybe I’m trapped again,

Lured in the brightest darkness.

Fields of flowers for miles

Houses with no people.

No people.

Not one breath of air in this inanimate crowd.

It’s not a dream, I’m sure.

I know I can wallow in grief.

There’s no point in doing so.

I wanna go home

I wanna see my mother.

The willow hangs by, its leaves swaying over its trunk

Like it’s trying to contain a laugh.

The sun beats down on its low posture,

Reminding me to stand tall.

Lying down on a soft patch of grass

Crying through beat-up memories in my concussed head.

Pounding in my brain.

Dehydration doesn’t matter here.

Maybe it’s just like this on the pathway to heaven.

Thinning ground and sky,

Oddly nostalgic fields,

I’m out of the cellar.

Repeat it.

I’m out of the cellar.

Say it.

I’m out of the cellar!

The ground without a single bible to read,

Not a single ounce of strength,

The bloody scars on my leg,

The horror it would bring.

The man in the brown shirt,

The neighbor that I thought I knew,

Took my life.

Rot in prison.

I miss the hills I used to play on with Mama and Papa.

I miss the games I used to play with my brother.

Benny is out for blood, I know it.

He would never let somebody take his little sister.

I’m okay, Benny.

I love you.

I’m okay, Mama.

I love you.

I’m okay, Papa.

I love you.

I miss all of you.

Close my eyes, as I start to pray.

Lord, take me to you.

Fifteen is such a young age for a girl like me to die.

I want to forget about my trauma.

Borrowed time, I left a cold space where I used to lay.