What Once Was

this picture will forever be seared into our minds as the burden for our mistakes

Skeletal remains of a life once lived

Pan out around us�"a little reminder

To tickle the back of our minds in years to come

When the physical damage has been

Healed and our children’s children

Play on the land where, centuries before,

The product of our carelessness

Was the home of only death and despair

And a lost innocence claimed by

The merciless yearning for power.

 

But now, staring out at the lifeless buildings

Standing as still, as breathless as tombstones

We’ll lean upon each other for strength

We’ll look to each other for hope

And together we’ll cry for each life lost

So that every tear we shed shatters upon

The defeated earth’s charred skin

Soaks into the parched core and

Washes from it the pained memories

Of what once was.

We alone will shoulder the burden of our mistakes

Author's Note

review?

Reviews

[....]

But now, staring out at the lifeless buildings
Standing as still, as breathless as tombstones
We’ll lean upon each other for strength
We’ll look to each other for hope

I really like these lines, they are so truthful.
This is wonderful. Nicely written.

[nono]

Everything is something that once was. In my oppinion, but hey I'm one person amongst many so I only count within a crowd of a few hundred people. This is nice and beautiful!

"The defeated earth’s charred skin
Soaks into the parched core and
Washes from it the pained memories
Of what once was.'

That is beautiful just beautiful I love it so much description in something so short!

[Nyida Strong]

I also entered this contest and it's incredible how the same picture can inspire two different ideas. I liked this very much, for all its dark sadness.

N. Strong