Somewhere down the long-trodden roads of victories and defeats past…
Lies someone important of whom I once passed.
Ensnared in cobweb illusions, tangled and dusty,
The framework of a dream allowed to go rusty.

A promenade down Main Street in an overly-gaudy town
That I’ve put up for sale along with the proprietor’s crown.
Vacant of residents and home only to my well-paid thespians.
I’ve all but forgotten what’s really behind the thick paint and masquerading pedestrians.

Alleyway after alleyway, building by building, block by treacherous block,
Follow the fragmented visions of whoever was left behind the lock.
A familiar voice in the courtyard, a smell from the Bakers.
At the auction there’s a beautiful coffin, but like the town it hasn’t any takers.

Shadows of long-dead flames lick and lap upon crossing each and every threshold:
Memoria’s bonfire of tongues faithful to the illusion they’ve been tasked to uphold.
Wandering at will; inspecting behind each and every door.
But it’s the room I can’t find that here anchors my soul.