Family

My castle was crafted of cards and sand

Built by a lacerated hand

A sinkhole foundation held it all

We never felt the air roof fall

Stick figures dot the family album

The victims lie just where you found them

People will whisper, and neighbors will talk

When they toe the faded outlines of chalk

Harmed but unarmed, I escape empty-hearted

I crawl past the rubble and the justly departed

A father, a sister - the thieves of my youth

Survived by a shameful unspeakable truth

Dusty destruction swirls in the distance

I touch this new freedom, just for an instant

No longer “them” - now I’m just me

I blink at the past and the damage I see

Reminds me a house is not a home

You can be surrounded and still alone

In a pile of sticks, in a mountain of stones

The last man standing has nothing to show