The Song by Bianca Butler

Senior Poetry Entry

Once it was beautiful
Once it was a place of joy
Once its songs fell on ears of happiness
Once it lived

Then they came

They rode in on their horses of terror
Their eyes maddened by their quest for power
Their swords of destruction sliced the peacefulness
Into slivers of discouraged dreams

Hatred closed its doors
Bloodshed barred the gate
Fear hid it from sight
Grief wrote the final chapter of its destiny

And they left

Silence held the shock hostage
Life was its prisoner
Hope was its victim
Its spirit was lost

Time passed before it dared play its song again
It hid in its blanket of trauma
It waited until the silent screams had died away
It held its breath for fear of being heard by deaf ears

Then it dared

Out of its bombardment of denied memories
It whispered its song
It waited and hoped
That a candle of firm beliefs might shine through its window

But it didn’t

Time after time
It pounded its melody
Out to ears who could not hear past their fear
And its spirit doubted

But it would not let itself give up
It trusted; it believed
That somehow, someway, someone would listen
And let their memories guide them back

Day after day, year after year
In the security of the moonlight that danced on its stone floors
Through the window of boldness and the denial of fear
It played its song

Then she came

Shaken hope found her way back
Her ivory feet guided only by the assurance of her own heart
Danced a silent dance to its overgrown door
Her trust allowed her to enter

She knew the place from deep in her memory
She knew it was still there
And she basked in the moonlight shimmering through the glass of joyful tears
And together they sang its song

Somehow they both knew that she could never return
And as beautiful silent victory kissed its stone walls goodbye
They knew the magic of their song bound them together
For they had both believed

And every night its song rang out in triumph
In joy for the secret they shared
And as it sang it saw the angel dancing on the moonlit stone
And it smiled

They had both believed