Sitting in the corner of your room,

Rocking back and forth on your knees,

With your eyes shut tight,

You count out loud.

As each number passes by,

The world outside turns from sunny red

To cloudy gray and back again.

You wait to play hide-and-go-seek with yourself,

As the years have clouded your innocence with darkness.

~

Now the corner is awfully small for you.

You cannot even cuddle up into a small round ball

Like you used to.

You no longer sleep in this nursey anymore.

Your home is miles away in some downtown

Apartment on second street.

This is your last visit to the old, run-downed place.

You know there is no one left to see

And all the furniture has walked out,

Leaving your one-time-nursey room empty

With nothing but echoes of what used to be.

Even the wallpaper is torn and falling,

Unrecognizable, fading.

The game is coming to a close,

And all you have found are but

Small footprints of the child you seek.

~

Back into your car,

Down the hill,

Past the old candy store,

You say goodbye,

Knowing you can never return.