An Effigy for Dreams

I saw it there, and then again.

Like midnight fare, lost in the rain.

Where it thund'rous fell, who could say,

but the ashes quelled, or downpour's pain.

But this was not there, nor was there now here.

But the names were said, they were in my ears.

There was no water, nor now its spheres.

As I dangle I, across atmosphere.

Blue hazes, bright gas. They burn night away.

Yet so far below, that had been the place.

Beneath grey-bound sky, three-hundred feet of cloud.

It wrapped around the world, like a burial shroud.

A world of fake lights, beneath the canopy.

Buzzing, twisting mazes, captains of industry.

The machines gave us life, through the cycles they made.

A world neon bright, where shadows are repaid.

Towers cast their shadows, where other shapes linger.

Alcoves into warrens, no place for a singer.

Siblings then together, four count in all.

Only love to bind them, quiet smiles saw.

And from far above orbit, it all seemed so small.

Perhaps it would to any, who sees so great a fall.

To those children then, with no games to play.

A life among the stars. A place where their dreams lay.

The eldest had bright eyes, and he a wicked grin.

Proud, near fearless, and quick. We wanted him to win

He'd say they'll make it out. He'd reassure, "you'll see."

Danger wafts its own smell; opportunity.

When the bounty-men saw, the thief's hero within.

The shot of their quarry, left his lips mighty thin.

Younger was a young lady, beautiful and bright.

She sparkled like a rainbow, beneath the colored lights.

When she was made oldest, she then no longer danced.

She would bring back money, disappearance advanced.

The last time she came home, she was by others sought.

Hid the two left there now, before she was dragged off.

Never back thereafter. At first it was not brash.

Until, while scavenging. Her clothes were in the trash.

The next was a young boy, fit with wild hair.

All alone save sister. Little girl, unaware.

A man he was not yet, fearful he was far more.

With all the money left, the boy opened a door.

No way out now thought boy. Not for four, nor two's fun.

The door lead to a stage. But maybe just for one.

He told the girl to sing, as he coughed her name.

As she ended the verse, suited man saw her fame.

The man gave her a stage, a place among the stars.

A way to call her brother, beneath the smog so far.

Soon after she first left, they talked each day and night.

The boy's breath grew hoarser, and of him she could not sight.

The two talked less and less. Fear made her reticent.

The boy's last, gasp-message. "I have no medicine."

Almost ten years gone now, a sustaining career.

And here now again, the ghosts linger near.

So different life now. A different name too.

But the memories remain, indifferent; obtuse.

Vast glory of space abounds, but it is never enough.

The listless sense of nothing, the colors all rebuffed.

Nothing now to do here. Nothing here now to see.

Only here to marvel. Three holes where heart should be.

Seated at the helm's chair. The tyrannous stars watch.

From the plasma-glass port, the view beyond the notch.

Nothing on that planet left. Save effigy for dreams.

Three dreams gone forever now. One left to - them all - redeem.