No pain or elation, 

In the rows of cardboard houses 

The haunts of now distant 

Melodies and mantras 

–

Friends and family chime 

But their words won’t sink 

They float alone to their islands

Defiant in their gloom 

–

The world’s colors run 

And bleed into each other 

Leaving paint palettes emptied

And the heartsick trembling 

–

This skeletal day 

Tolls dismally and fades,  

Hollowed out by a lifetime 

Of promises deferred