Chosen
when he got
there
the place was in ruins
everything was new
when he was a child
but his eyes had seen
too much turn
over and over and over …
and now it seared him
to open them
he couldn’t sleep
even when he slept
all the ruined lives
that never turned round
ending in dead-ends
a ring never worn
innocence lost
his eyes hurt
from the ocean of tears
and the question
of why
he had lived too long
100 years in the middle
of a road
where the grass never grows
he longed for green pastures
and the trees of his youth
and the feeling of red apples
and it was the first time
since he was a little boy
that he could open his eyes wide
and dry
and it wasn’t dark
his body was bathed in the light
and he could see the sea shining
in the distance …
he felt weightless
as if he could fly
like a bird
like a sparrow
…
TL