A Christmas Tale Poem by Kevin Carney

A building sitting empty on the outskirts of town.
It has stood for more than 100 years.
Still it still seems to try to stand proud.
Massive, so magnificent in its time….
Still standing walls all upright.
Standing in front it gives an eerie feeling…

People walk carefully by…
Quite a history it's had.
The old lunatic asylum,
too proud to fall down.
Empty oh so quiet,
too proud not to still stand tall.
Neglect over the years, just showing its toll.
So strong it is still fighting its own decay…

The only residents that reside, the past souls.
The broken pane of glass,
the heat no longer warms the halls.
Paint peeling, plaster sagging…
Still the home of so many lost souls…
Darkness fills the halls,
doors still sensibly shut after dark.
No living man or woman dare to enter as the sun sets.

So many for decades the people came.
Sad the lives, the minds of the ill,
the unfortunate, the insane…
Desperate and sad lives,
terror and fears.
Unable to be cured or live, maybe just a few lucky ones left?
Archaic and cruel the treatment,
some the cure became better before it closed.
On some nights through the soft winds,
cries can be heard throughout night.

Lost the souls,
the patients that stayed for the years to come.
Lives lost,
living day to day through their fears and torment.
The ones that could reason, knew there was never a way out.
Death might be welcomed, the way for escape.
Never could they realize, never could they reach the light.
Sentenced to stay in the dark,
the eternity for all, to roam those halls.

So sad for them, all too clear to see, so much pain…
Years and tears, the final closing….
In some twist of fate it was home,
the only one many have known.
Years have been hard, the walls crumbling around them.
The townspeople play on their past superstitions and stay clear….
So in the dark they live,
hoping for the day to be able to find peace…

Snow falling lightly at the break of day…
Cold, the day, lovely lights,
illuminating the night before all around town.
Souls feeling the change in the air,
lightness in the halls they roam.
Is there a feeling of hope for them?
Something is happening, it might be called hope.
Do they believe the feelings coming to them?

Christmas day, a time of happiness,
the great day of joy.
Compassion becomes infectious,
the forgiveness for all mankind….
Is it the day that maybe…
God has looked down, and seen their way.
Too long they suffered,
Christmas is the day,
the song of angels heard softly.
Calling, just above the clouds.

Hearing, the few lost souls,
first time joy ever felt, they understand….
No longer will have to wander, through these dark times….
Hearing the voice of angels the beauty they never knew.
If souls could cry, the halls would fill with tears of joy….
It might be just that day….It's Christmas Day.
Those souls are finally able to travel through the light….