I was a happy child.
Shrieking with joy as I played with my brother and sister,
We played in imaginary castles equipped with stone walls that supported kings and queens.
We lived in a world without adults,
Where houses were made of gumdrops and graham crackers.
We made the world in our minds better than the one that waited in reality.
A tiny version of me, happily playing with the brother I now argue with.

I grew up.
Leaving behind the imaginative, innocent world which I had clung too.
Learning about all the terrible things occurring in society
When I fell off my bike and cut up my knee.
Blood oozed down my calf and onto the pavement
Stained the concrete a vibrant red.

People called me “sp**” because my skin was tan,
Because I was Hispanic,
Because I was something they didn’t understand.

Alcohol,
Would test my family.
It brought the graham cracker walls crumbling down into a dark abyss of addiction.
It made us face problems that we really didn’t want to face.
Made us visit him in rehab, to
See what had become of the person we knew before.

We helped him piece himself back together and,
We shedded the candy coated shell which we had used so many times before to hide behind.
Even though the castle walls had tumbled down,
We rebuilt them on the remains of our past life to ensure a great future.
A new fortress that is warm and bright,
Full of joy and a rehabilitated family.
We continue to build our castle because happiness isn’t free,
Or easy,
And if we stop working and caring for our castle it will decompose.


I am going to make many mistakes in my life.
The castle wall may become breached at some point;
it may even break down once in a while
But,
That is what builders and family are for.