RB Lonetree: ‘The Unicorn’

The Unicorn

Beneath a bleeding, jagged sky
There lies a shattered, haunted town
Filled with the ghosts of war-time dead
And burned-out houses falling down

And in one house, in a cellar of stone
In the dark of her enduring night
Hides one little girl, all alone
Beside a flickering candle-light

And in that girl’s mind a garden grows
A wonderland of light and love
Far beyond the fire and steel
That rain upon the streets above

And in the garden of her mind
A world away from the fire-storm
A forest no soldier can ever find
And in it, playing … a unicorn

On streets of fury where snipers wait
With steadied hands and hearts of hate
They will not find your garden, girl,
They cannot pass beyond the gate

The gun-fire echoes over-head
It is only thunder, child,
A summer storm, cool and sweet
To water your garden of the world

The candle burns out and dies
But far away in a golden dawn
Beside a river a little girl lies
Amongst the flowers with her unicorn

Oh child, where’s your mama now?
From whose loving arms you were torn
She will find you in that forest green
Where you wait with your unicorn.

RB Lonetree