Long ago in the old folk’s place

A boy with innocence on his face

Came to knock on the gated door

 

The man behind it saw a child there

With blue eyes and mussed blonde hair

He asked, dear child why do you seek an audience of the Lord

 

The boy then smiled and said not a word

The gatekeeper thought he hadn’t heard

But the boy had slipped past his keen eye

 

Into the gates he stole and ran

Past the marble Fatherland

Racing till the city peaks lay far, far behind

 

Into grassy hills abound

Searching for the little town

He had known once as a boy and not forgotten since

 

Blonde hair bobbing through the fields

Pausing to sniff at daffodils

Promising himself that he would search forever hence

 

But the guard had caught onto his trail

With holy hounds sniffing his tail

And the man knew he only had hours left to spare

 

He climbed across a rocky ledge

And just over the rain-slicked edge

He could see the makings of the town that lay there

 

 

The roofs were cobbled in a cherry stone

Remembered the hours he’d spent alone

Lying on the grassy hills he stood now on again

 

But the Lord’s men were gaining fast

He prayed to God that his time would last

Just long enough so that he might get to see a friend

 

Inside the house there was the bed

Where he’d rested his fair head

Many a night staring through the crack out to the stars

 

And there his mother lay now too

With eyes so bright and full in youth

Shaking her head at the son she’d raised so very hard

 

 

She said “Now listen here, my dear.”

And he saw the eyes were full of fear

For the son that she now knew would never be with her

 

Outside the holy hounds had found

Their way into the little town

And began to sniff to catch his scent, coming ever closer

 

That was when he took his leave

Of the mother so bereaved

Of the child she had lost sight of so very soon

 

Past the dogs and the guards

Over the ledge and through the yards

Never looking back to see his impending doom

 

But lo and behold, he saw the gate

One guard ahead to bar his fate

And screamed as he burst back into early morning sun

 

Yes, he had evaded death

But he still awaited his final breath

And the judgement that would so inevitably come