Time and Pain

A Victorian village
Time hijacked;

Abandoned here
In sunlit lawns,
So the past
Could dream
Of Hollyhocks.

The longer I stayed
The more I saw
Of another world
Time forgot;

And shimmering ghosts
In waves of heat,
Raised up spirits
From dormant streets.

Cardinals’ calls
Whispered love,
Amid the lament
Of mourning doves.

But as I stood in the shade
Of that century house,
I also saw
What became of us:

We had given our hearts
And now bereft,
Could only give
The little left.

That’s what I learned
While in the shade,
Of a forgotten world
Mere time away.