Castle in my Mind

My neighbour, with his driveway entrance,

hardwood double doors

and the multi-level rooms,

over gleaming, silk-screen shores

his castle, his mansion,

his glory, clearly signed

while I sit in silent splendour in,

the castle in my mind

 

I approach them in the evenings,

these castles, in their rows

past the windows peering down,

past their pretexts and their shows

as I walk I sometimes wonder,

at being left behind

and settle my contemplation in,

the castle in my mind

 

The porous, stifled memories

of what might, or could have been

the gentlemen, I greet them,

as I watch them wash and preen

Their castles, in extension,

with no waste of any kind

But I can find no great pretension within,

the castle in my mind

 

The principles of decadence

in the measure of success

where wealth is institutionalised,

above the heads of those with less

and lonely beat up commodores,

in the club for the refined

wave away the fortune housed inside,

the castle in my mind

 

If I listen to the preachers

who watch the pledge placed on the plate

as if the weight of it determines,

somehow, my fortune and my fate

I search my pockets for currency,

measured by the blind

and recline in repose and dance my way through,

the castle in my mind

 

Gratitude, this word again,

it jangles and repeats

inside the castle’s grandeur,

reclining in its seats

I search for explanations,

for a fate I may yet find

I retreat to the farthest corner,

the castle in my mind