If you say something enough times the words
begin to lose meaning.

When smiles drown out silent cries,
Everything is fine,
And hidden in castles in the sky.

I remember it like it was yesterday, our castle in
the sky.

When we were younger, we shared a world in
which our imaginations made us invincible.

You were my hero even in the real world.

I remember that time when I was five and on my
tippy toes trying to reach the water fountain. A
big, tall guy came and pushed me on the ground
and I began to cry.

You, seven, at the time, came with your book bag
axe and brought the giant down.

As we grew older, we made our own castles in the
sky.

You built your walls out of clay and made a gate.

I built mine out of iron and forgot to make
an entrance, because who needs a gate in a castle in
the sky.

One day a stranger came and attacked, and your
castle came crumbling down.

I kept thinking- where was I when your castle fell
out of the sky?

Miles away, and locked away in a place meant to
protect but in which I was trapped.

Listening to your sobs, hearing you describe how
he hurt you, how he smashed your head on the
tiles, and how all you could do was track the
passage of time as he robbed your castle in the
sky.

I am sorry. I wanted to be your hero too.

I have helped rebuild your castle. I have picked up
the pieces. Explained to all those who don’t
understand. She’s a hero. She’s my hero. She isn’t
gone. She isn’t broken. She is getting stronger.
She’ll find her way back.

I have been asked “Why do you feel other’s pain?
Why do you dream and cry on their behalf?”

It is because I am no hero. I have no obstacle to
overcome. My walls are dark and strong, but my
castle’s heart is light, and open unable to shine
out.

My castle has no gate because I used to be able to
fly. My feet are too firmly planted on the ground
now.

I thought if I gave you my wings maybe you would
make it back. I can’t get out, but maybe one day
someone will fly in.

I sit here waiting, for you to fly back home, but
hate is weighing you down.

Do you remember our favorite game? A key was a
weapon used to free a world, that freed a heart,
that freed a soul. But every heart and soul could
not exist without both light and dark.

My castle has no keyhole. No method by which to
be saved.

But I now know a castle in the sky is no place for
you and I.  In the beginning all we know is light
and hope and flight.

Darkness comes but it isn’t something to invoke
flight. Darkness is merely the absence of light, and
it teaches us that there is a reason to fight.