The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Playroom Regrets
by Angela Yuriko Smith
away, crimson globe!
—an escapee, on the run—
vanishing though drains
leaving pain and tears
with the wailing child behind.
the end of a world.
hurled into sewers
by a sibling. catacombs
and new horizons
to surprise one ball
breaking free of the playroom
ready for new games
and refrains of song
snatched from young lips to be lost.
bobbing, he waited
degraded in muck
uplifted by adventure.
he had no regrets.
she crept from the soot
denizen of the ashes
child of oily grime
in time to wonder
at this strange, Upper World gift
now smudged in her hands.
lands from whence it came
a mystery to the Blind Ones
forever in dark.
embarking no more
from these strange and nightmare lands—
missing the play room.
Fiction © Copyright Angela Yuriko Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Angela Yuriko Smith:
Angela Yuriko Smith is an American poet, author and co-publisher of Space and Time magazine, a publication that has been printing speculative fiction, art and poetry since 1966. Together we build a poem as a community each month. Visit “Exquisite Corpse” at SpaceandTime.net to submit.
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Spreading the Writer's Word 
Oddly sad, but I love it.
Good one, Angela! A poem leaving many questions unanswered, a story series awaits?
Love the rhythm of this poem
Nice