Empty Faces

Empty Faces                                                February 12, 2006

They've flocked here in herds

From the valley, from the pastures green.

The sounds of chirping birds

Are interrupted, yet all seems so serene.

You see, the people are here to gather around

The old lady of the family, to sing of her graces,

And she listens, cheerfully, at this foreign sound

Sung by all the nice, yet empty faces.

These are all her loved ones so

Who have cared for her for many years,

And as you know, love will only grow

Through the laughter and the tears.

They adored her when she was a young beauty

And have revered her as she's grown old.

Now, they take it upon them as a duty

To remind her 'fore the past turns cold.

She always housed them in her spaces,

For she was always hospitable,

But now, they're just empty faces,

Their identities now questionable.

The old lady gleefully sits at her party

And smiles from ear to ear.

But there are so many strangers to see,

And thus, she sheds a tear.

When asked by her great-grandson,

"Why are you upset? Why do you cry?",

She just gives this blank stare, says under the sun,

"There are so many people to meet before I die,"

And the youngster just cried and cried.

The mood changed,

And the old lady simply sighed,

Saying in her next breath,

 "So many empty faces, so deranged!"

Over time, she grew worse,

Until the day that she slipped the surly bonds.

So much emotional sadness, and into the hearse,

For it was time for her last ride.

The family followed behind feeling an eerie chill

In death's inevitable parade,

A parade of people whom the lady did reveal

To be the empty faces masquerade.