and in abandoned corridor
on the top floor of a forgotten high-rise
in the middle of the deserted city
an infant sat reaching
for a mother that wasn't there

and the power lines hum a song of swarming
for a past that wants the present for its own

and somewhere, long ago
before the dinosaurs
long even before the first plants
or the time of algae
in the cold brine of an empty ocean
under an unforgiving vermillion sky
there was a first thing
molecule or virus or protocell
which turned through the lonely expanses
of an empty sea it never had noticed before
and said:
I AM SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
in a language which still echoes
off the deeper canyon walls

and old man sat on a bench
at night
in the middle of the city
as the chill of winter began to set in
and watched a young group of girls
pass under a street light
on the other side

at the night club
in the incoherent blaze of guitar white noise
and the steady 4/4 drum work of the drum machines
a circle forms in the center of the crowd
as worship begins to a god of pain
in an effort to escape reality

one girl, more numb than the rest
tries uselessly to find her way back

and venus looks like a star tonight

and in the ruins of an ancient temple
something between a church and a courtroom
i or something archetypes can't fathom
steps heavily across the stones and shards
while rainbows slowly side across
an unshaven face
and falling to his knees
at the foot of the magistrate's desk
the phantom lifts his weary head
to the stained glass teeth
jutting from the few remaining walls
and whispers in a voice not loud enough to echo:
i don't want to be different anymore

and a mother takes her child
and places him softly beneath her breast
cradling him and singing gently while he feeds:
don't fade on me