drenched in fire

we are many & eternal,
cocooned in the ancient fury of the earth,
cast into the endless wandering

with whirling, centrifugal tantrums,
with bleached bones & blighted vision,
curses dripping from our teeth,

shoulders cracked
beneath the liminal malice 
of the milky way. 

our tired skeleton hands
subvert prayers
into hexes,

eyelets aflame,
caught on the glare
of sun against sickle. 

our souls cavernous, lightless, bereaved,
choked on the dust
of the dear, dead days,

unnerved by those yet to come:
assaulted by the horde of time 
unfolding across panicked landscapes. 

sunrise to sunset,
crawling across oceans of asphalt,
we dig our daily graves. 

it must be noon. 
it must be midnight. 
it is all alike,

drenched in fire.