Poem: Brick by Brick

Once life was beautiful.
Hope as abundant as air.
Every second seemed
honey-sweet and love-filled,
sorrows rare.

But that rosy-eyed child
has died
leaving the cynic alive.

False princes too long ruled --
whispering of love and healing.
And all was surrendered in trust.
But I'm still bleeding
in the wake of their leaving.

So I build...
A fortress of stone,
barbed wire protection surrounds this heart.
And brick by brick
the light dims a bit.

In every mirror,
I face a reflection unfamiliar,
eyes wide with fear,
then flashing with anger.
So white, so icy cold my skin.
Sorrow has paled the flush
of that once beating heart,
the light that was within.

Love's rush seems a fading dream
lost upon waking.
Clocks tick off
the rise and fall of the sun
in the outside world
and within my realm
fragile sanity is ever more lost.

It's the price I pay
with each lingering breath
for their thoughtlessness,
for each word cruel.
Ah, they know not what they do.
What was trivial to them
was to me a death, an end.

Now in this dark,
in this soul's winter
the question lingers --
Could I ever believe again?