**I. The Constructors**

We wept when the culmination of ages came down,

Sweet irony, the toppling of the scrapers,

The jumpers of the heights fly loosed from bands of earth.

‘Twas the saddest of times, ‘twas the happiest of times.

Oh sovereign symbol of the great decay,

Oh flaming arrow flies true to its mark,

Oh nation state of decay

Judgment never lurks far from thee!

Oh happy hour of retribution,

Oh saddest day of searing loss,

The constructors shout for joy,

The destructors shout for joy,

But we the citizens scramble for our dens

To shield ourselves from the coming delusion.

Band together brothers! Let us not lose sight of this dark day,

Remember the Alamo, so to speak!

A generationally near-sighted folk we are,

Forgot the tragedy, forgot the triumph,

Bathed in stinking pits of fragrant rot,

Aloof amid our own devices.

The constructors took their tools of deception

And weaved a narrative so thick.

You with the scissors, don’t run,

You’ll trip and the contents of your life

Shall spill forgotten on the ground.

What good are we but food for the dirt,

It is us and we are it, we hollow folk.

Take a shovel and excavate me,

Uncover the remnants of the ages,

The dinosaur bones of forgotten reason.

No stardust in me,

The stardust—veneer of romance,

whitewashed void,

meatsuit,

monkey man,

god of the scrapers of Babel—

You fall with the rest

When the final word strikes your high places.

**II. My Father’s Goblet**

Make me a little room

Far from the craze,

Let me sit there and watch the world revolve around my feet,

Let the shadows come and go

And let my world-vertigo all consume,

Dizzy me up and drag from place to place

My woozy form.

Lo’ I drank my father’s goblet

I am drunk of wrath.

Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!

The pretty girls love me,

The best of men know my name,

Celebrate me when I die—while we all die

Here in this fragmented world

I take my hands and sow ruin

Upon the surface of the spheres;

Upon the surface of the Universe

I build my empire

Dare you to destroy it

Try me.

Eat the worm, men

While I eat animal flesh.

Make me a tower

Far above the noise

Let me sit there and watch the world collapse beneath my feet,

Let the gurneys come and go

And let my shameless pride all consume

Puff me up and carry me from place to place

On flowery beds of ease.

Lo’ I drank that old man’s goblet

I am filled with wrath.

Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die (by my hand)!

The pretty maidens fear me,

The best of warriors cower at my name,

Celebrate me as you die—as you all die

Here in this world constructed in my image

I take my hands and crush you, bugs

Smear your guts upon the surface of the spheres;

In the depths of Hell

I build my empire

I scream

I scream

I scream

I scream

Our Father who art in Heaven

No one knows my name

Enter tireless fury.

**III. A Spectacle for the Blind**

Ruin of nations, let your collapse poignant be

That even the blind may see the fury,

See the lilies tremble in the wind,

Be stripped of all beauty.

Bring forth the dark and light

Watch them war with fire and glory.

Which shall win, the dark or light?

For light o’erpow’rs the dark at day

But dark suffocates the light at night.

Is eternal equilibrium of yin and yang

Set to pointless shift for all of time.

What is good and what is evil?

Must these codes untethered be?

The blind man watches round-me rings

Flow endless ‘til the end of ends,

But end of ends is ushered not

For nothing is the king of all,

This form is but illusory.

_If I anoint your head with scalding oil will you still say so?_

I plead the fifth.

Fate and chance and lust and greed

These all govern this world of naught.

If I but separate from this shoddy form,

Expel the gloom, accept nirvana

And lead this spectacle for the blind

A masque o’er truths yet to reveal.

I value not the image borne,

Nor One who came for me to die

But inward look to pits of flesh

From which none emerge alive,

This, the same for all us blind.

**IV. A Ministry of Burners**

Wheedle me, O’ World

To strive in the conflagration,

Enumerate the faults of God ‘gainst man.

Fortify thy bulwarks

And vainglorious edifices,

Prepare for the razing of your constructions.

Wild and futile fancies ne’er profited thee,

Thou scrapest high Heaven, yet see no light,

Acknowledge it none the more.

Woe to thee.

Wisefool!

Wisefool!

Collect thy vanities and depart.

Ye ministry of burners,

Razers, destroyers

(Though thou construct)

Are destined for the destruction

Of entire spirit.

Ye who boast in natural means

Shall long-suffer torment

Of parts ignored.

Wisefool!

Wisefool!

Wherefore art thou Wisefool?

But he is not,

For he was of this world.

**V. Ostentation and Nonsense**

“Give me something to work with, dear sir,

“For the matter you propose is much beyond my doing.

“The plans you devise shall never reach the minds of men,

“Shall never twist, deceive, cause ancient reprise

“Of demon schemes.

“Dear sir, give me something to work with.”

“Ah, but doer, I have indeed.

“The heart shall twist more than you know,

“Man’s mind unfashioned shall warp and bend

“‘Neath narratives thus wrought in crooked promise.

“This flood shall be a flood of fear and death,

“Divide in vibrance their every whim,

“‘Til all that’s left is blood and grief.

“And tales you’ll tell ‘til all forget

“Prelude of lie and end of Truth,

“Smear their minds with fantasy,

“The ostentation and the nonsense.”

“But, dear sir, this premise is contrived

“From minds of tenants

“Of sanitariums and dungeons

“Where daily they sling dung,

“Claw their eyes ‘til foul disease consume.

“Dear sir, this monstrosity you posit

“Could never emerge but from such sick depths.”

“Ah, but doer, you underestimate the hearts of men,

“See now, the fruition of this plot,

“See now midsummer parades of wrath,

“See now the killing chambers smeared in infant blood,

“See now, the men, Venutian,

“The women, Martian,

“Ye of little faith, the keepers of my ancient Stonewall gate

“Rule once more.

“The ostentation and the nonsense.”