It wasn’t the spankings
That knocked him from his chair
Or the constant taunting
He could field the shots from there
What hurt the boy the most
The cause of his despair
Was knowing in his heart
That his father didn’t care
The man had his own life
Was hardly ever there
His wife and his children
Were just burdens he would bear
For years it continued
Until the boy was grown
Too old to take abuse
Too young to be on his own
When swats turned to punches
His escape became dire
A choice of last resort
Like a tall leap from a fire
He met daylight searching
For a safe place to stay
And found an escape route
To a place not far away
Down a petaled pathway
To euphoric green fields
Where he felt so alive
That his laughter would not yield
It gave him that feeling
How he thought love should be
And filled his troubled mind
With the beauty he could see
So he made a home there
Where he lives all alone
A castle of flowers
On a mountaintop of stone
-Rondym Kiefe