One wall of a cold cement cell is missing
And all of the prisoners stare out into the open,
Into the searing light.
Into the tinge of air
Unperfumed with the sweat of sleep.
Overhead, the florescent light
So sickly fluttering,
The pale blue luminescence with not even a lie of heat,
is dominated.
The prisoners squint into the light of the world beyond their lonely cell.
Crushed together,
Shoulder to shoulder
without room to move an arm to scratch an itch.
Noses that held the raw scent of ammonia
are teased with the prospect of being washed clean with the scents of animals
dirt
and manure.
Their tense shoulders relax
and the cell releases a sigh
into the world.
A lung holding stale air
for way too long
finally gets to breathe.
A smile crescents their faces,
and with whole hearted contentment
they watch
as brick
by
brick
The wall is rebuilt.
The single brick layer's back is dropped with sweat
of the sun bearing down.
The prisoners are smeared with prespiration
of sleeping too long with no ventilation.
Without a goodbye,
the world is gone
and the prisoners have already forgotten about it.