All That's Left

I walk down the desolate streets,
Everywhere I go there’s death,
Burnt out shells of houses,
Bloodstains on the sidewalk
Ripped up trees and garbage

There’s what’s left of the library – a couple of bricks
The store – empty shelves and broken windows
The church – burned to the ground with the priest inside
The school yard – empty, but for the ghosts of the dead children
Sunset lake – bodies floating on the surface

The Athertons’ – riddled with bullet holes
Scuzzy’s house – just a crater now
My bus stop – a large dark stain, all that’s left of Ashley
Nick’s house has an unexploded bomb in the front yard

As I get closer I feel the tears well up
This is what I’ve been avoiding
I don’t want to see
But I know I have to

A stain on the front walk
The beach tree across the porch
The windows are broken and the antenna’s gone

I step through the door, like countless times before
Fire ash hangs in the air
I can’t see the pictures on the wall at all
The stereo system is gone

The cabinets are open, as is the fridge
I can see the dishes smashed on the floor
A stain on the floor that wasn’t there before
There’s blood on the stairs, like someone was shot there
I step into the bedroom, there’s nothing left

There’s nothing here now,
Nothing of who I once was
My sanctuary is destroyed

As I start to leave
Before I go out the door the last time
I hear something break under my foot
I crouch down to see what it is
I start to brush the ash off and stop
I know what it is
It’s a picture of when things where better
It’s me standing between my father and brother
I drop the picture and stand up

I take a look around
And for a moment the world was right
But that image fades and I see the reality
A tear slips down my face before I can stop it
I walk out the door once last time
And never look back
Preferring to remember it as it once was
Rather then the graveyard it was now.