Bits and Pieces

Ugly Words

ugly words forced them to places

deep underground

underneath the sunlight and the jewelry

underneath the heavy footsteps that kept on walking

that could crush

their fingers as they reached out for help

ugly words shattered their mirrors

they were told only a monster would

be reflected and

they believed it

why was everyone so cruel if

nothing more than a demon was inside?

their stained glass bottles

half-filled with dreams

were broken at the necks

good aim and slingshots

armed with smooth stones

made the best weapons

they were unsuspecting and childish

but their intentions were absolutely wicked

ugly words built up their castles of fear

far beneath the earthly surface

thrones of broken bones and hearts

and subjects of their own scars

no light could enter or escape

it was a vacuum of lost hope

if they hid from oppressors

maybe it never really happened

maybe torture wouldn't come back

to haunt

ugly words turned their beauty

into searching eyes

and eternal suspicions

a guessing game of

who will hurt me

who will try

who will break my bones or mind

or otherwise

ugly words built a fortress

far beneath the wind and snow

a place where it was safe and warm

there was no beauty

but no hate

there was no radiance

but no fire

there was no goodness

but no ugliness

they felt nothing at all

so when the palace began to shake

and broken minds began to think

the towers crumbled

into mounds of ash

and they wondered if ashes

would be better than humans

it was a universe parallel

to the one above

the one with cold and warmth

dark and light

two sides to everything 

this was a universe of fear

convoluted labyrinths

they walked for hours getting nowhere

but right back to the places they left

they fought in their minds

fought the anger and the hurt

fought the enemies with bleeding palms

until the war was too much in the brain

mental heaviness took a physical toll

and they fell to the ground, breathing hard

ugly words began to melt

in the earth upstairs

with spring came a blossoming

of new beginnings and happiness

for a while hate was a thing of the past

but underneath

the shadows still lurked with fear

a lingering smell of suspicion

the long stretch of hours left waiting

for something, anything

with joy must come pain

but they were afraid of both

afraid that to laugh once more

would break their frail bodies

to cry would be remnants of another life

to sing and dance would

shoot them down

they were glass skeletons

not scary but broken and old

mementos of an ugly time

moving on would be a surrender

to moments in the past

ugly words created an earth

where a whole was split in two

above the ground

life kept moving on

but underneath

underneath was a battlefield of

old bruises that time cannot heal

broken bottles littering the ground

they might have thought it looked

pretty like snow

if they had not known what

shattered hopes they held

ugly words gently passed with the breeze

but to those of the underneath

they never left

those words nested in their souls

sang a haunting lullaby

a tar-and-feather trap stuck on repeat

in their minds

the words floated and bobbed

in their eyes

closing them only added to the infinite darkness

ugly words became engraved

on their headstones

natural erosion could not wipe them away

deep in their graves

dug far beneath the ground

ugly words cut scars

and painted sorrow on their faces

those words never did leave