Forever human

One footstep

and I can feel it,

my flesh made of ice and

my skin blushing under

the sun shines blue and

I blink blink blink to redden my eyes.

Two footsteps

and I can smell it,

the freshness of live plantae invigorating one nostril,

a slaughter house of decaying life in the other.

I am one breath away from a rotten lavender field.

Three footsteps

and I can see it,

a cloud of grudge Harbourers approaching.

I pluck a cirrata from the sticky soil, sickly sweet

blood trickling down my toes.

The feathers of my fingers tickle tickle tickle its fins

and stretched open, it flies up above my head,

its spineless body a shield

against the tears of the Pathetics.

Four footsteps

and I can taste it,

the bitter flavors of humankind and

they linger and linger and linger

numbing my tongue

and leaving crumbs of defeat.

Five footsteps

and I can hear it,

the ringing in my ears.

The power over.

The hate, the oppression, the abuse.

The manipulation, the gaslighting, the belittling.

The dehumanization, the mass destruction.

The end of an era.

I can taste it.

I can see it.

I can smell it.

I can feel it.

What have we done?