The Injured, Desolate Jericho Poem by E V Wyler

Where silhouetted sentinels silently stand in vain
bleeding shades of layered shame on blight-lined highways below,
their ghostly shadows remind us of dreams we dared to drain.

Interred on unkempt plots, crumbling brick carcasses maintain
evidence we're forced to see if the trails of traffic slow
where silhouetted sentinels silently stand in vain.

Rush-hour bottlenecks, the frustrated drivers' daily bane,
exact tolls of tribute to hollowed homes lost long ago.
Their ghostly shadows remind us of dreams we dared to drain.

Daylight, drowned in the windowless dam of a plywood pane,
begs blackness, dwelling within abandoned walls, who'll dare go
where silhouetted sentinels silently stand in vain?

Does the doll left naked on a spray-painted stoop remain
to testify children once played under its portico?
Their ghostly shadows remind us of dreams we dared to drain.

As darkness descends, the caravans of commuters wane,
leaving deserted the injured, desolate Jericho.
Where silhouetted sentinels silently stand in vain,
their ghostly shadows remind us of dreams we dared to drain.

E. V. Wyler