The meter here is capable and the simple rhyming, besides being almost all monosyllables, has a plainness that mirrors the dull setting. There is a lot going on in this deceptively understated sonnet. Besides the obvious, I read an eerie sameness of purpose for the residents, one where some who leave indeed be lost or never find their way back home no matter their skills at sniffing their way out of danger -- where the residents would prefer to stay in their nondescript “Home, Sweet Home” because “it’s safer to stay / indoors than go off course again.” This is well-executed, subtly and masterfully but layered.
Cheers,
…Alex
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