This dismal castle reigns over a wasteland of broken promises and shattered dreams,

Its foundations on the tears of those who dared to challenge their own fate,

Driven by the faintest light that whispers to those once considered of no emotional means,

Even as the doors slam and the gate closes to those who ache for a life to berate,

Misty eyes gleam in response to the fading ray of hope,

As shadows advance to envelope this rebellion of mysterious light,

Ambitions fall to decadence and the weary soul no longer seeks to elope,

From this bastion of misery where even angelic wings dare not to take flight,

Sealed by a lock of submission to the chains of enslaving emotion,

While the eminence from below greets promise with talons of decease,

Scarred and bled dry of its once promising devotion,

As calloused hands and hearts grip the bars denying all who wish of release,

The light still breathes as if to replace the dying breaths of those who remain,

Melting the cataracts that still blind these ephemeral dreamers,

To bring benevolence as affliction combines with disdain,

And drown in the words spoken by these captive screamers,

The tower rings of its needless and hourly reminder,

That all who call this citadel home have no home of which to return,

As the light burns through every shade and every blinder,

And promises to return for those to whom escape should still yearn…

-Halifax Haflinger