The Red Tower of Memory
Virginia Carraway Stark
Here I sit where I sat before
A princess then,
A queen now
In a tower of red,
like the blood I’ve seen shed
The blood that’s used to cover lies and crimes
Red like the fire that burned the evidence.
Here I sit where I sat before
A Queen where once
A Princess was
The Tower is made
Of the blood of the sacrifices
The tower is my heart pulled out by my own hands
To try to stop the pain of the losses of my life
Here I stand, where once I sat before
The Goddess where
Once I was a Queen
Where once a little girl
made wishes on dandelion clocks
and watched feathers blow in the wind
Here I fly, where once I stood
The Judgement of all
that went before
I claim this tower as mine by all that I have earned
By all that I have seen and risen over
This place is mine
This tower is built
From my blood and my love
Black, White, Yellow and Red
The others aren’t mine
Although I lived in Black
And felt the shadow of White
When Yellow is claimed
And we all take hands
our unique crown of towers
Will be ready to wear
with one thing in common
The fields of blood at their base
The land of death at their center
Saturn’s place of no mercy
Where the wolf is ever at the door
Every minute of every day
And at winter the wolves tear
Your heart with their freeze
Black shadows loom
Babies die Saturn alone
Is the king of that place
No more is my home
In the land of The King of Death
Instead I claim the tower of my own pain
I made it out of a moment in time when
A feather floated in the breeze and I woke up
I said, “I don’t want to lose this moment’
And realized that I have memory
You’re welcome to come see my tower
I can’t promise anything for your safety
Many have died and many more have gone mad
at the red tower of my pulsating bleeding heart
You’ll leave one day, only the other towers are forever
and when you leave, stricken, bereft, mad with what you have seen
You’ll blame me because
I am the Queen of Hearts and I’ve stolen yours
With a look, a smile or a cutting remark
I used to feel sorry for the ranks of broken humans that fled
But now I fell nothing except a full ripeness
You are my guest here, I can do as I please
Welcome to my Tower
The Tower of Blood Red Memory .