Warning

A history of bloodshed.

-

Ash falling with the granite

over Ukrainian cities.

-

Weapons of mass destruction

birthed by modernity.

-

The hospital bed is empty, waiting to be washed -

they will never remove the red.

The body is lost in lead,

a vivid portrait in cement.

-

Their clothes still in piles,

untouched in a cold room.

-

Our renewed Rome,

the eye of the machines.

-

I barely sleep at night

and when I do, I can’t have dreams.

All of those

electric sheep

to count.

-

Bodies burnt in piles,

living decomposition.

-

Teeth and

wedding rings

left behind in buckets.

-

Infinite nightmares stretched out

across this metal landscape

-

and all of it

just a warning

which we’ll fail

to heed.