The Foundation

I stand alone-

Surrounded by everything I've known

Shocked by its destruction.

Tears roll down my face

Now that it's all been erased

By his thoughtless consumption.

They came to our house-

Roused by neighbor's shouts

And knocked at our door that Sunday morning.

Ignoring pleading eyes, 

They laughed at our demise

And sent us on our way with a warning.

"Don't come back!

You're not wanted where you're at."

They said this on a Sunday morning.

We drove along the road-

Car packed with things we owned,

With only pennies, and without a home.

My siblings cried and cried

And my Mother nearly died

All because of him and his crimes.

Weeks earlier, the neighbors petitioned

To make our removal their only mission

And so, a betrayal was committed.

My Father was their target

Because of the fear he had incited

And a taste for blood, he had ignited.

"Don't come back!

You're not wanted where you're at."

These were the lines they had recited.

Now, I was down and broken-hearted

But these memories, they lightened

And down a new path, I was guided.

The path of pen and of quill.

Words had strengthened my will

And past wrongs, somehow, were righted.

Out of dark despair

And memories that glared, 

I was made.

A new life, I forged.

And him, I scorned.

The foundation i'd been given had been laid.

"Don't come back!

You're not wanted where you're at."

Their words faded as I walked away.