If you thought the asterics in my last poem were confusing, don't look down to every single word at each one. Just ignore them and look up the words before or after 7reading.
Well, anyways, thanks for all the reviews, guys. Whoever hasn't reviewed... you should. Anyways, here's poem #18. Nobody's POV, just a lullabye to a frightened child sometime during the time before the Hunger Games were established (the Dark Ages?) in one of the districts, during the wars and terror... as inspired by one of TheSoggyBug's poems in their story In Loving Memory. Well, what are you waiting for? Quit reading this; read on!
Wait! Before you continue on, I must explain further: This is free-verse and is meant to be read as a whisper. I'm tempted to put it all in italics, like this, but that might be too confusing, what, with this AN (Author's Note) in italics. So read in a whisper and with *enjambment.
*Enjambment - to read a poem or poetry with the punctuation, not line by line. DO NOT READ THESE LINE BY LINE! READ LIKE REGULAR SENTENCES, AT LEAST ON THIS ONE!
Don't cry,
My sleeping child,
Don't let the noises,
The screams
Of agony,
Frighten you.
Don't wake,
My darling child,
Don't let the scarlet
On the walls
And covering the city
Frighten you.
Don't start,
My sweet child,
Don't cry
and scream
In the terror,
Don't let the
Strangers wearing
Their strange masks
Of death
Frighten you.
Stay asleep,
My innocent child,
Don't see the
Horror,
The terror and
Confusion.
Close your eyes,
My frightened child,
Don't watch the
Death around you,
Don't look at the scarlet
On the walls
And covering the city.
Plug your ears,
My lovely child,
Don't hear the
Screams
Of agony,
Of torture,
Don't listen.
Hold your breath,
My wonderful child,
Don't breath the
Toxic fumes
The strangers brought
And wear their masks
To hurt
Only us.
Go to sleep,
My silent child,
Let your dreams
Take you away,
Don't sense
The horror
The terror
The confusion
The death
That surrounds you.
Don't follow me,
My beautiful child,
I have to leave
You now,
You know I never would
If the strangers
Didn't take you
From me.
Close your eyes,
Plug your ears,
Hold your breath,
Go to sleep,
And wait,
Wait,
Wait for the strangers
To leave
You alone.
But it is
Too late,
Late,
Late for you,
For while
You were sleeping,
They took you away.
I put you in the
Ground, deep,
Deep,
Deep in the ground,
So they can never find
You again.
I wept, but you
Are safe
Forever,
Held; not in my arms,
Not in the warmth
Of love,
But in the
Cold, hard depths
Of the earth,
With white roses on your
Tomb, never to
See the scarlet
On the walls
And covering the city.
But safe in the earth,
Never to
Hear the
Screams, the agony
And torture.
But safe in your grave,
Never to
Smell the
Toxic fumes that
Took you away,
Brought by
The strangers in their
Masks of Death.
Good-bye,
My sleeping child,
Forever sleep in peace,
Never to wake
To the torture
That still surrounds your grave,
But stay safe inside.
With your placid face
And pallid skin,
Your calm position
And resting posture,
You could
Almost
Be
Sleeping.