he has to go again
it's not a choice, just
a decision made by
other people that he
has to live with
no say, although
he protests and complains
they tell him not to,
but he does anyways
because his life is here
he barely has one, but it's here
and he chooses not to leave
his room, sitting in the house
with all the bags and suitcases
surrounding him like the
wall of China, keeping out
the deadly mongrels who
want to invade his sanctuary

they take him out
when he refuses to go
for the third day in a row
it's the summer, he claims
but it's not, it's the middle of the
school year, everyone else is in
their respective institutions
they threaten to put him in
a mental one if he doesn't
straighten his act up
and so he has to
it's not his choice, even
if he wants to sit and complain
he can't change the move
his words won't help anything

he's forced to watch it as
they go, his brother and sisters
are whooping and cheering
finally able to get away from
the place that fed them so many
nightmares
he can't get his gaze off of it
it's alluring, and it'll stand for years
tall, stubborn, unmoving
he's the one moving
he's the mobile one
he has to go while it stays
while it gets to remain in place
but he has to move
it's not fair, he thinks, because
nothing about this situation was
honestly his intention
but the move must happen regardless
before he left, he had found a ring given to him
long ago, it used to be black
but now it's clear, see-through
it's lost its color
he left it where it sat
it'd still be there, but he knew
that he wouldn't