languishing silently
he sat upon the
window sill
sunlight beaming
through curtainless
glass panes
in a playroom
forgotten
by children
grown long ago
and gone
and
he stared sadly
across the room
beyond dust particles
slowly floating
in the rays
of light
his large eyes
set in
a wooden head
fixed on a rusty spring
extending from
his box of
blue and yellow
and
if he could’ve
made tears
they most certainly
would have fallen
upon his rotting
clown suit
which had faded
from the sun
for
he could see her
over there
the pretty tiny feet
resting on a dusty mirror
and
he remembered
how she once
had danced
in graceful circles
over and over
how he’d wished
that he’d had feet
how his head
had swayed
back and forth
upon his spring
how
music had played
joyously amid
laughter
but no more
now
there was no one
here to wind
time it seemed
had stopped
love as long gone
as the music
it once brought
there
I spied him
for a long
minute
from the doorway
feeling quiet certain
that
I knew
exactly how
he felt
—
Matt Longerbeam is a literary enthusiast and artist hobbyist. He lives in Hagerstown, Maryland with his cat Saffron.