Acapella
The plague will fold
the good and evil together
into earth and ash.
Its odors of quicklime
and pyre-smoke will curl
commingled in acrid air.
It will show
neither justice nor malice.
It will know no mercy.
It will expend itself
once too many bodies go cold
for it to sustain its pathological fire.
Our music will become
but variations on the same
exasperated acapella mourning song.
the good and evil together
into earth and ash.
Its odors of quicklime
and pyre-smoke will curl
commingled in acrid air.
It will show
neither justice nor malice.
It will know no mercy.
It will expend itself
once too many bodies go cold
for it to sustain its pathological fire.
Our music will become
but variations on the same
exasperated acapella mourning song.
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Author's Note
Something apocalyptic for a change
(wink).
Other stories by Gary Hardaway
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Echoes of "Adagio", which I like.*
Prophetic.
*
Lxx
Yikes! I'll have bad dreams tonight! *
But will it kill stinkbugs?
Pretty damned grim, Gary, but sharply etched. I do hope you're wrong, but I see the same signs as you. *
Lynn, leave those pretty stinkbugs alone, hear? Besides, they only stink when you crush them.
Great pivot -
"It will show
neither justice nor malice.
It will know no mercy."
I like the poem, Gary. A good, hard edge of loss.
*, Gary. Terrific opening line. It explains things so well.
"The plague will fold
the good and evil together
into earth and ash."
Cheery.
"It will show
neither justice nor malice.
It will know no mercy"*
Thank you, Amanda. An elegiac tone comes so naturally.
Thank you, Leticia. Add a more gnomic vagueness, in quatrains, and I could become Nostradamus II.
Lynn, stinkbugs are carriers but do not succumb. Of course. They will survive.
Thank you, Matt. It is a grimm time we've made. (the 2nd m intentional)
Thank you, Sam. Epidemics just don't care.
Thank you, David. The great equalizer.
Thanks, Gary. The remorselessness of the Holy Ghost in Exodus is a great inspiration.