Ragged Tooth

What unknown face now breaks the silence?

What tipping force disturbs the balance?

Swift and sober, comes a voice, offering a bitter choice

Take up a crime and serve the sentence, offer up a final penance

Or dismantle colossus from deep inside, conspirators,

and those allied

Gifts of bronze, iron, obsidian, from nave to chop,

plunged and hidden

Deep in the chests of those who cry, the songs of gods untrue

The prayers to start or end the coup, forever silenced

Like sulfur set to fire, blue flame is born

To rip through homes and cleanse the town

A new world rendered, an old world mourned

The old world left to drown

It draws closer with every step, push off with both feet

Fall into the chasm, which will consume all

March not to the drum, but off the beat

Burst into the evening, cool air burns the lungs

Fear not the turning heads, the darting glances, the lashing tongues

The glowing eyes that burn like embers, fall painful on the skin

Seething with hatred, and writhing in pain, they cast a ghastly grin

Yet among the faces shrouded in horror, one truth prevails

All who’ve ever come this far exclusively have failed

Reach for the hand whose grasp is firm,

Whose blistered palms can confirm,

A kinship in a spiteful place,

with tender touch a warm embrace

Though nights turn long and cold, and the warmth of the day escapes

The long dark shadows growing old, form familiar shapes