When walls made sense
Defending a perimeter
Patrolled and guarded
By men well-trained and armed
Against cavalry
Infantry and archers
Today
This wall is both beautiful
And a reminder of that time
Today
This wall is both beautiful
And a reminder of that time
But I wonder too
At the worlds now gone
I cannot imagine
Driven to despair
By the shepherds
Of fear
Reeking of the violence
Wrought by anger
And the platitudes of righteousness
Built for speed
Lived at a Main Street pace
The paradox
Of a mechanical world
As seen from this virtual realm
Because here am I
Everywhere at once
Yet nowhere at all
Few
Enough left who could
Read
The irrelevant past
Now
Silly stories of
Love
Self help for plentiful
Times
Dystopian imaginings for a world of
Ease
So it was no wonder salvagers
Found
No value in printed
Words
Beloved’s paean expressed
In exquisite
Architectural glory
Brought to ground
By notes of sorrow
Though beauty undiminished
Hints at
Beauties lushly graced
Forever lost
Long stripped away
So close my eyes
To fill the space
With grandeurs from
Another time
No life
No green
No creatures
Scurrying
(Or so it seems)
Police stations
And hospitals
Apartment buildings
And condemned spaces
Secret headquarters
And schools of magic