There’s a place outside my window
I do not often see,
a million miles across the street
where death decries your plea.

‘Tis a purgatorial place
for the once young at heart,
innocent souls now burned by flame
who thirst for life’s restart.

Red yellow fire once licked their skin
left pain in fissures deep
now loved ones kneel in fervent prayer
their young ones here to keep.

Mine is a neighborhood of hope
for children wrapped in gauze,
doctors, nurses, medical care
united in one cause.

View of Shriners Childrens Hospital in Boston, from my 7th floor deck / my living room window.  WP Writing 201 prompt:  write in the ballad form, using assonance, and relating to the word “neighborhood.”  Ballad:  dramatic, emotionally charged, 4 line stanza quatrain, alternating stress lines as in 8 syllables, 6 syllables, 8 syllables, 6 syllables; and using an ABCB rhyme scheme.  Assonance:  subtle repeat of vowel sounds.