Wasting Away

Society buries each
dusted soul, interred in
dying ribs of breath
and lungs fill
with the color of dread,

as loose coverings
rise to burn.

Silted throats rasp as
furious flames find all,
drained of fluid
to rub
coarsely along bone...

as lies fall in italic rain,
paining perished soil
in drying leaves.

Truth runs hard on
broken ground
as ignorance cracks
like waking pupae

and minds refuse
to see hopes ingrained ~

all shattered shells
of leafless twigs.

Sun-tanned spin doctors
dwarfing opinions,
unclipping pockets for
profits to breathe;

stiff clerical collars
of the upper-class,
listening to deep gurgles
rising in pitch.

Pulling water through
rock and
dry earth, as aching
thighs trek
widened miles...

shoulders strapped to
trapped and raw skins ~

mere irritations panting
over scarred surfaces.

Debris linger behind
imagined ideals, as reality
slowly wastes away...

to die

and faith lies
in shadows of
each bruising night,

without light
to discover selves
in dust's thickened air.