The fire lit up the small room
And everyone looked with wide eyes
As it danced before them in the silence.
It enchanted its audience and made them
Forget. They looked at it and gave it their
Full attention as they sat and stared.

They needed to forget the angry stares
Of the townspeople, who hated them
And sent the family to live in a room
Where there was only darkness and silence.
Their new house was a pain to the eyes
With only a fireplace but nothing of theirs.

The old man and his wife lived their
Life but the innocent kids didn’t. The room
Was a life sentence of misery in which all of them
Could do nothing other than sit and stare
At empty walls on which they fixed their eyes
Day and night. They shared only silence

In the pitch black hell hole. Silence
Was their friend because it kept their
Shattered family together. It kept them
From pointing fingers and giving stares
That showed the hatred that burned in their eyes.
The crime was never spoken of in the room.

They never spoke. Not even to the walls of the room.
One word could break the carefully constructed silence
That would force them to speak and make eye
Contact. The one word would stop the evil stares
The wife gave to the old man and force their
Children to ask why he did it and why with them.

The man would then speak and answer them,
And their questions and give a break to the stares
That he’s been getting from every single eye,
Including his wife’s, who has been in the room
With him for so long, suffering the silence.
All they want is an explanation for why their

Fate is this small, dark room full of stares, where their
Father sits in silence with closed eyes. They watch the flame
Burn out and have understood he will never speak. Never.