Silent Lullaby

I wrote this when I was 16.

Silent Lullaby

I wended and weaved
Through the debri
Up on the stairs
Like a rodent in a maze
The splintered boards raked at my bare legs
Everything so eerily quiet, I shivered

I, the only being alive
But unthriving
Where had all familiarity gone?
A thing so light in this great significance
Had been whisked away like a child’s blanket

The door at the topmost stair
Hung on a single hinge
And clothing which lie tattered and limp
Was strewn about the floor
The owners unknown

The dining table was upended
And partly decapitated
A mattress’s springs
Had made their way through the fabric
One slender ankle protruded tragically
From behind a tall picture
A portrait of a young couple
Painted in the 1800’s

With little ease, I stepped over a broken lamp
To reach the shredded canvas
When I removed the canvas, my throat tightened
My eyes stung with hot, sorrowful tears

Not a cut or bruise
Was visible upon this child
Yet, she lay unconscious
In a peaceful position
Holding a string of rosary beads and a teddy bear

Then, I heard it in the dead stillness….
God's silent lullaby.