There is only stone left…

This cave hid away families in the dark

From people who would return them to dust (even the newborns)

Sometimes they had to huddle for days

Scared and hungry, palm to palm most the while

And now they’re gone…to what end, I don’t know,

But eventually they found their way back,

Because I feel them with me here and now,

Still huddling in their worn blankets,

Ever-watching as the tourists pass through,

Oblivious to anything more than stones steeped in history

But I stay and feel…pushing my energy into the shadows

I sense how the nighttime was an ominous, beating thing to them,

And at full-dark they were fireflies blinking side-by-side

Lips moving; silent prayers…that their light not be extinguished

…that darkness not regurgitate the enemy while they rest

(Because their numbers never seemed to wane!),

Anyway, how could this cold and dreary place be anyone’s last-resting?

And with daylight came hope, dangling on a string before them

Dashed – when the echo of determination made it back to their ears

Encroaching warrior-cries just Death’s finger, as he trailed it along a spine

(And we all know how he enjoys puppeteering our fears)

Another family passes through, eyeing me warily

I guess it is an odd place for a gal to ‘reflect’

But I can’t help but wonder when these spirits will be ‘seen’ again,

And I imagine that kind of loneliness is inside us all;

Mysterious nighttime, puffed at the chest like a fighter,

A dragon set on swallowing dragonflies,

And into that little cave we retreat…so deep we think we can’t be reached,

But one day someone who can really ‘see’ passes through;

The only light you would’ve followed out of that cave,

Because that light burned brighter than the others

And then gone are the haunting warrior-cries and the sense of despair

I make my way towards the next cave

The kids in front of me have sticks and they’re weed-wacking as they walk

Their parents are arguing about where to eat dinner

I hang back…

Knowing it was just stone to them,

Thinking about how many treasures go unnoticed

Sheila Roy ~ Copyright July 23, 2011