This was a word inherited from Greece,
whose ancient shrines protected those in need.
Later, monasteries and churches sheltered refugees:
"asylum" meant that safety was inviolate…
The word became corrupted
as its purpose was betrayed.
Asylums became replicas of hell
for their afflicted inmates.
Sometimes of a Sunday,
groups of gentry and the well-to-do
would take a stroll through Bedlam
to be titillated and amused.
What does the word "asylum" mean today?
Often it means razor-wire, an undetermined fate,
the stigma now imposed on the abandoned and displaced:
the Greeks would be ashamed of how their word has been disgraced…
Asylum
© Copyright: Jena Woodhouse, 2005
Свидетельство о публикации №105072400260
Свидетельство о публикации №105072400260
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