Once We Were Free Poem by DM W

This is the place of forgotten youth:
Where music once redeemed starless nights;
Where blazing flowers of love once bloomed;
When we were guided by greater light.

This is the place of discarded youth:
Former idols have begun to rust.
We once believed we were free to choose;
Now fragile empires turn to dust.

This is now the place of fractured youth:
Smear of sun across Time's abyss;
Love's sweet realms ripped apart at the roots.
Now fear has usurped our bliss.

This is now the place of spectral Truth.
The crazed street prophets are now silenced.
For the neon gods control the minds
Of the anaesthetized populace.

This is the place of discarded dreams.
Take a drive through the city's limits.
See today's cool, multi-coloured themes.
See the junkies looking for a fix.

This is the place of forgotten dreams,
Now the spectacle has supplanted,
Sheer vital force of playful forms.
The sacred carnival has ended.

I see faces in the candle flame;
Some are dead; some are barely living.
I cannot recall all of their names;
Only the glory of their giving.