What of the Soul

WHAT OF THE SOUL                          32 Lines

Part I         
                                     
You have broken panes, walls moldy from rain,
holes in the roof, buckled wood planks,
trash heaped on the floor, a busted down door.
Were you orphaned again, discarded once more?

What did you see? Where's your family?
They left you in haste.  Why did they flee?
Did they leave for a new and fancier view?
Did they run from horrors known only to you?

Did a mom with her gin watch TV in the den,
a timid escape from the struggles within?
Was it silent and still, without money for bills?
Were they forced to leave with the closing of mills?

Was it love they taught, improvements they sought
or violence they mentored, through battles they've fought?
Was there fear and despair in the thick, humid air?
What voices, what shouts are still lingering there?

Were the children kept clean, were they hit or demeaned?
Will you share the stories, what you've heard, what you've seen?
Was fear in their faces, did love fill these spaces?
Did emotion, like paint, remain here in traces?

Part II

My curious friend, let me explain. Inside us all, there still remains
sweet sounds of laughter and traces of pain.
I am nails holding wood, you are bones stretching skin,
but joys and horrors, for each, live within.

To me, we're the same, despite failure or fame,
kings and queens, downtrodden or lame.
Our bodies are vessels, the soul is our life.
We can choose our own path, be it gladness or strife.

You asked me to tell of the families I've held.
You asked if they lived in Heaven or Hell.
But I ask you, my friend, what of the soul
who lives inside you?  Is it broken or whole?
                                                                     

SWPoet

Project Write World
Prompt #2

If you are not reading this for Project Write World, please see the link below.  It is to the complete poem (80 lines) on another site as PWW requires less than 40 lines.

What of the Soul? Pts 1-5  (13+) The soul of abandoned homes and of man/woman-uncut version (other one for contest) #1430253 by SWPoet

Thank you