Midnight in the City of the Dead, I went walking
Shunned by the living and loathed by the damned
Flesh rendered ichthine by phosphorous twilights
No blood in the mortar, no soul in the land.
The acid of diesel fuel seethes in my nostrils
The burning of creosote thick on my tongue
Their language is cryptic, their smiles merely
evil
It’s twenty-six days since I last saw the sun
Jackboots on asphalt shattering cobblestone
Restlessly echoing back to my ears
Hopelessly lost, orphaned and crippled,
Wholly alone since abandoned by fear
Echoing thunder of sleepless trains passing
Glistening starless lost nightmares of grey
An alien contingency glowers down on me
Answering calls to illicit crusade
In her windows an infantry, an unholy corps
Remorseless deserters with tickets in hand
Lost between shutterless concrete and skylines
My brethren in arm of this final last stand
And now resolution, prayer for tomorrow
Granted in dawnshy shades, razor-burnt greys
Night retreats inward secure in the sacristy
Inseminates symbols in lain awake graves
Midnight
in the City of the Dead