Author's Note: This was an exercise in my Creative Writing class. We get some words and write a poem using those words (those are the italicized words).

My room is a fortress,
as gray as the olden Zimbabwe.
These eyes of mine, shielded from Earth
only know the art of criticizing
and my body only knows
of the jittery nerves coursing under my skin.

In this dullness, I have stayed,
frail from the knowledge I bear.

But now I lay within the pillows
that are your undetected wings of Heaven,
and I merrily dream of the waters of New York
that are your aquatic emerald jewels of eyes.

You stand superbly before me in a paradise I never knew
after you tore down the walls of my sheltered world,

and I thank you.