Sanctuary of Shattered Silence
Written: May 20, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Silent One
1st place contest winner
*******************
Beneath the bastions of broken time,
moss-mantled memories murmur,
their whispers wound with winter’s weight,
their petals powdered into pale oblivion.
Yet in the orchard of absence,
where peaches perish and ivy coils,
my pulse still pounds—
a prayer pressed against the prison of stone.
Love lingers like lightning,
longing to lance the dark,
to carve a chorus from the cavern,
to kindle kisses in the kiln of night.
I long for honesty heedless,
for a heaven where truth is not tied down, where pledges aren't cloaked with
conceit,
but breathe, naked, unbroken.
But solitude sings its stubborn song.
Shields shine,
sanctuaries stand,
roses rise unseen,
Their perfume folded into lost air.
Knock, if you dare-
Not to conquer,
but to hold.
Bring birdsong, not battle.
Bring tenderness, not tyranny.
I will glimpse—
the sanctuary of passion,
the grace garden,
where every rose
radiates with the elixir
of its existence.
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