Playroom Mirrors, Lover's Stairs

There used to be a life behind

Playroom mirrors,

Like light childhood secrets

Hidden beneath the stairs,

Where we would meet,

A time and place reserved,

Sacred.. yet distilled by youth,

An awkward age played out in streets

Where apathy was glory, romance-

A thing of the future, not to dwell, an uncouth

Mystery dispatched by toddler hands,

 

Where young years expanded to forever…

 

(I --…..)

 

…but the mirrors have shattered,

Broken down by the driving of a heart,

A passion so fiery, ignites the thicket of stairs,

Leaving a barren reality exposed, awkward

And uncertain, a love that desires to wear

The sharpest shades of red, dark'ning with age,

Crimson in its final moments, expiring darkly,

A blackened cloak, a velvety palisade

That holds your shadow out

Forever and today…

 

~*~

 

It's easy to be a child again,

To imagine love a demon, but the heart

Is hard to convince, however often slain,

It resurrects and yearns to assume the part

Of a lover, a feeler, to expand with the universe,

To embrace intentions soft like rain…

 

..^..

 

So I ask you:

Rebuild the shattered playroom mirrors,

Construct the stairs that lift me up, a secret harbor,

The whispering world where lovers grow,

Give me incentive to love again, to throw

Away the naivety of childhood years,

Where I dwell, the defense of ignorance,

My intentions to preserve and shelter, the ambivalence

Of craving yet rejecting, quell the conflict

And bring me hours, days, years…

 

…Let me grow in love,

Consume it whole,

Live in grace, console

My weakened heart-

The years spent alone,

And die in a lover's arms,

Feel that shelter,

Know my place-

 

…and finally feel at home.

Reviews

[Rachel Anderson]

This is very creative! Since I'm such a simple writer, with a simple mind, the first stanza was a bit hard to read, but I'm sure someone with a brighter mind would get it. You have such a unique style, going from one thing to the next, changing rhyme schemes and structuring. Great job, I think. :)