1
The mountains move aside
pushed by the dense fog
Heavy and expertly graded greys down the sides
until all you see is a blur.
The sounds of rushing winds
and trees bent every which way
those dark wings throw shadows over the living room floor
we cower and watch
as multiple murders are retold in fine detail.
We drive along roads which would hurl you to your death
given half a chance
you may think as you hear
a stone clipped by your left front tyre
The sordid music unfurling fronds of fear.
Living in heaven is not easy.
He paused before exploring the forces he felt in his heart pushed aside his need to see. The tumbling and fall, the steering wheel crushing his ribs, he feared it all.
And he would carry her limp form
along the road
alert
as the storm pushed their air down
and the flames broke out on his each side
he cried raw from his heart torn from his body.
Their life now behind him carrying her with him
no possessions no clothing no warmth no destination.
2
He awoke in a sweat
safe in their home but why was the air so wet?
Was it the ventilation
or the ice-box malfunctioning?
The full weight of suburban trouble loomed large.
He opened the curtain and the rain now falling was quiet.
He had slept through the deluge (all that noise making him dream, of course)
And that lake that was the city? He rubbed his eyes.
The water was starting to reach the edges of the garden
there were small waves, it was the ocean now encroaching
he grasped his arm hard to wake from the phantom existence
he had surely fallen asleep this vision was impossible
as the water crossed the threshold and threatened his world
he felt a rage building in his chest
and roared with vengeance and fury
And as if by chance, it inflated his self-worth that little, or what,
the water trembled and then rapidly receded revealing, under his hill
a cleansed vision of then urban bones littered with random
crushed objects
the horrid realisation of cars upside down on the roofs of houses
crept over his skin.
3
He closed his eyes.
But it was the ground opening up below his feet that engulfed all
the fires of hell were a welcome relief from the fear of all your possessions
with you inside holding on for dear life, falling for hundreds of seconds
buffeted against wall, floor or ceiling and the heat increasing
those moments were burned deep heating the surface
feet scolded by the sands of the desert.
But that last moment before the flames dissolved their form,
that moment of imminent defeat in the hands
of forces too great to fight
the approaching end of that moment,
it stretched across the eons
making this his very last gasp
last for what seemed for far too long.
The full wretched fear erupted from his chest and out of his mouth.
It was the very last thing he did.
4
The sound continues to fall on
the valley floor only to be heard
by babies being born
and in those last moments
before we call it a corpse
her last breath seeping into the room.
We saw a ghost in the living room, it seemed to be screaming