Author Information
With Memory, Collapse
Every single fleck of ground shook in one motion,
and then there was stillness. Then came the cold.
A vacuum of absence then came in to settle,
and prove to survivors that their hope did mean nothing.
Many would cluster, their arms forming chains
that would link them by body despite the terrain;
but with other quakes, the rumble of mortar -
this shattered their joining like the cast of their homes.
Many stood screaming, others fell curled,
still many wondered at the state of their world.
The wilting of flowers was measured by poets,
the fire of skies was captured by paints,
sounds made by shatters were devoured by song
and those without words did mouth their great longing
for the previous world, before such disasters.
As if summoned by daydream, a rip in the stratos
did show to the people what once had been real.
And as they felt fondness, an old warmth so vague,
the sky did collapse and with it, carried death.
