Sanctuary Lost

There is a door,
white framed and glass paned.
I've looked through it a hundred thousand times.
          
But today,
today was different.
            Shimmering azure waters,
            pink lolling toungs of pups;
            my childhood play things
                                           were not
                                                    what caught my eye.

I slither through the crack,
                                 narrow space
                                             I permit myself,
so as not to wake mother from her mid-day slumber.

Creep across the steaming cement and sharp white rocks.
Summer grass tickling my bare feet---- I reach for it.
Shiny thing which caught my eye, a latch?
The fence shudders under my unsteady child's hand
                                                                           and swings open.
Magic!
Sparkling waters of a creek that slithers,
                                                    through the depths of the suburbs.
It beckons me to follow it---- so I do.

A dusty trail leads me to a secret paradise,
              my sanctuary for years to come.
I've lain in the field of poppies for hours
       ----and days.
Where miners lettuce fed my hunger pangs,
Where the touch of lamb's-ear calmed my nerves,
Where I made endless flower chains.

I never wanted to leave.
                                But, one day
           mother's husband came,
                                         stealing it,
                                                  and her,

                                                         away from me.