The Scarlet Road | Teen Ink

The Scarlet Road

June 30, 2011
By LifeWrite PLATINUM, Westfield, New Jersey
LifeWrite PLATINUM, Westfield, New Jersey
44 articles 14 photos 53 comments

The bloody road
stretches out before her
glistening in the moonlight
its treacherous beauty
reflected in her eyes
Like a red carpet
trailing behind the celebrities
who have long since
vanished into the night
She takes one tentative step
the snow crunching gently
beneath her feet
Searching frantically
she seems to glide across the
frozen ground
The icy wind whips
her dark hair around her face
Rain
begins
to
fall
as she moves from body to body
The harsh drops
melting into the ones
that trickle down her cheeks
cascading faster and faster
The pitter-patter
changes character
suddenly thundering down from above
she shivers beneath her coat
a sob of lamentation ringing out into the darkness
When at last
she stumbles upon a woman
lying in a calm repose
whose blue eyes stare blankly
up at the heavens
Reaching out to stroke
her blood-stained forehead
she gently shuts
the woman’s eyes
and raises her face
to the same sky
under which the woman fell
where a star
now twinkles brightly
And her last tear
lands on the woman’s cheek
sliding down
her motionless face
as if she had just been crying
for the same things
as the one
who holds her hand
trying to will
the warmth back into it

The author's comments:
This poem was one that I wrote for my 8th grade language arts class about power--specifically the Russian Revolution. It was inspired by the scene in "Dr. Zhivago" where Dr. Zhivago himself goes out into the street to help wounded citizens after the dragoons trample a crowd of protesters. It was a very desperate, bloody road.

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