May 20, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post

Brick Shift
©May 20th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

You built your edifice
Brick by brick
You created the castle of you
Out of nothing, from nothing
You made your self a building
That sat on rich land, verdant
Lush with plants and trees,
Your castle housed attics and cellars,
Oh, and a damp dungeon,
Through which flowed a somnolent river,
Where you kept a sleeping creature
Fierce and fiery, long and spiny –
A creature you never visited,
But you knew lived and breathed
Down somewhere in the depths.

You built great halls and baths
Sleeping chambers, libraries
Turrets to look out from
And a moat around you.
And on the topmost tower,
You kept a phoenix, whom you loved.
Fire and water you loved,
And earth and air, too.
You fashioned for yourself
A world where they served you.

And the birds that wheeled around the tower
Sang songs and soared, but always returned,
For they were tethered to you.
Brick by brick by patient brick,
And stone and straw, too,
You built your edifice.
You saw for miles around,
You owned it all, celebrated all,
You saw that you could make your life
Whatever you wished it to be.
And so you did, so you did, for a time.

Ah, such folly!  How far can you make life
Yield to you?  How far can you shape your stones?
All one needs is one brick out of place, somewhere,
And the earth to shift beneath it all.

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In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt:  Brick

Tags: #Brick, #DailyPost, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost