At the End of the Street

There was a paddock
at the end of the street
locals called No Man's Land.
It was a few acres
of wild let loose inside
a suburban brick and asphalt order.
Plenty of open grass, trees
to climb, old stables
and fenceless yards gave 
an untamed world to the kids 
thereabouts to explore
and claim.
It was the place to go
to escape from walls,
the world and the tyranny 
of merciless gods. 
I spent a good part of my 
childhood in the sanctuary 
of those grounds.

When things got too much
I would crawl out 
and hang on tight to the tail
of a kite I flew there, high above
the world where I lived.
The air had no boundaries 
and was beyond the reach of hell. 
I was before myself
in those heights and floated free 
of what held me. 
Come dusk,
I could feel myself slowly 
being drawn downwards 
into a waiting dark
and back into another place
where I didn't want to be.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2023

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Summers Avatar
February 22, 2023 at 11:47 AM
An island of calm surrounded by chaos, we all need such a sanctuary. I enjoyed the poem very much and your matter of fact telling of it. John
Willason Avatar
February 23, 2023 at 12:50 PM
Thanks John, very much appreciate the feedfack. Areas of nature patched into suburbia were once common until financial return outweighed the need for soul space. Now shopping malls luxuriate. I'm getting old me thinks. Regards
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