A foreign room in a foreign land
child’s innocence is lost.
In a moment, things change forever;
yet they remain the same.
Everything is cold.
Soon he’ll hear the solemn chants.
“It is okay dear, don’t worry”.
No, it’s not.
The train’s low rumbling, a casket, and an empty seat;
it’s all there to see.
An absent mind protects him from rupture:
“Everything is okay, don’t worry!”
The same litany to quell his inquisitive spirit, amidst frantic dancing, under a starry night.
A gathering of unknowns.
Last-ditch efforts to nurture his purity: guileless.
It’s all there…
Familiar grounds, a children's posse in a humid backyard.
A scalding cup of tea hoarfrosts his insides,
the world spins around him.
He bellows,
“It is 8 pm and a child’s life has ended!”
The singing fades away, it is just noise now,
echoes.
Everything is the same and yet forever changed,
so he is, Ad infinitum.
