The gates stood tall.
Imposing to mortals.
Neoclassical lions guarded
the sides of the entrance;
inanimate yet fearsome.
Shrubbery thick like bears
bristled under wide armed
pine boughs.
Thick veins of ivy crawled
randomly upward, daring the
foolish for a climb.
Mercury moonlight
slipped through thin clouds,
forming gray shadows
across an organic surface.
A dead stillness
owned the air.
Roger Singer 