The Little Boy Inside the Wall

Joy was the only sky I knew,

Family and friends, a simple map.

I walked a world of golden light,

Unaware of the coming trap.

A split second, a screech of steel,

The child becomes a man of stone.

The carefree boy is cast away,

To walk the gravel path alone.

The crowded tables thin and fade,

A stranger in a different frame.

With heavy shape and clouded eye,

I am not invited to the game.

I offer kindness, open-handed,

Yet fear the sting of being known.

A lifetime built on solitude,

I harvest seeds that I have sown.

The hunger for a friend remains,

But guarded by the ghosts of play;

The little boy inside the wall Still keeps the world an arm’s length away.