Dogwoods sway every which way

Kissing the air with their blooms

Tree-claws scratch as we pass

And far off, thunder booms.

Summoned from a collective dream

Urgent and sweet, but then the teeth

A world we weren't part of, woven by grief

So on we go till the the day falls asleep.

Murky blue twilight deepens its face

It speaks to us from a hostile place

A million tears, and ugly years

Waiting for ages for us to come here.

Windows like eyes, glass like fangs

Leaning and groaning a wordless harangue.

Warning signs plead half-seen, half-real

In the fog of forgotten ordeals.

Hallways changed like a broken train

Leading patients on to their doom

This halfway house for the truly insane

Who to this day still wander the gloom

Staff members remained, but they aren't the same

Warped into tools for a harrowing game

Everyone asks but who takes the blame?

The oppressors are dead, and here lies their shame

As we explore and the specters come through

Elsewhere coils like the devil's intestines

Choking another, a wicked vine grew.

For all these years, for you we are destined.

The light of reason shines and it burns

Cold and mean as the wheel of life turns

Want is honed and evil learns

And even in death, the spirits yearn.

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This is the second in what will probably be a trio of asylum-themed poems for another story I'm working on called the Mental Wraiths, which takes place in a psychiatric hospital with a terrible history.
The book might be divided into three parts; The Patients, The Wraiths, and The Outsiders.
As always, feedback is wanted. ;)

updated Apr 23 '11 by RachaelRunes