Empty Rooms.

It was the day that the animals left,
All of them,
By land, sea or air,
Without so much as a goodbye.
And at the command of the Lord,
they gathered at the Edge of the World,
And all leapt into the darkness -
Save for the Monkey
Who, with a bruised banana and shiny key,
Returned to the Forests and locked their gates,
The vines and roots curling up and weaving together
In a great impassible barrier,
For he, in all his trickery, could not bear to leave.

It was the day that the stars fell,
One by one, shot out of the sky
By Great Orion
As he unleashed his arrow, filled with all his pain and malice.
And as their cold, pale bodies fell to the Earth
And littered the streets of Man's great cities
The people, in all their ignorance,
Saw that the stars were not light
But virgins, cloudy-eyed and silver-haired
Strung up against black velvet skies
To watch for the death of newborns.

It was the day that the World -
Ravaged and rotting as it was -
Was returned to the Children of the Hills.
All the faeries and the pixies,
Dead men with grey fingernails
Who rode on the backs of wolves,
And all the infants they had taken from cradles,
Fed petals and strange fruit in timeless places
As their parents, sisters, brothers withered and died
And the world spun on without them.
Man was ushered from their homes,
Into the Garden of the Lord,
Leaving half-finished meals behind
And pictures of their families.

It was the day I thought I'd run away with you,
My heart swelling with ecstasy.
Thought I’d
Curl your pale fingers into mine and whisper 'I love you,'
Or other sweet things.
But I'd found your bed made,
Wardrobe empty.
Little outlines of dust where our photos -
Our memories -
Used to be.
And when I'd ran out into the street,
I'd ignored the dead virgins, with arrows jutting from their chests,
And the empty air and quiet homes,
Stumbling to keep my aching chest
From spilling my tears and heart out onto the sidewalk,
As I watched that yellow cab
Fade into a melting horizon
Taking you with it.

It's been two years,
Our home is cold now,
But still I wait.