Children jump the hopscotch grid
They run it down to chalky dust
A fear-ridden city pumps beside them

Children run the chalk border
This is where they are
This is what they live for
Laughter in the gravelly macadam

Children two-step slowly home
As if the hopscotch grid
Pulls them back with
Full, tender eyes

Children reach their barren doorways
They linger at the frame
Hands dangle from limbs at doorknobs
They reach, turn, open

Children look in
They shut their eyes
Decadent houses swallow
Chalk memories
The power overwhelms them like their parents’ desire
To leave them behind

Children walk into their houses
Their boxed lives waiting