murmurs and shrapnel xix

A giant white skull
lies at the bottom
of an ancient courtyard
cracked and fading
unmolested
for a thousand years.

At an academy for priests
acolytes argue over claims
made by the great leader
as threats
in the form of barbed arrows
rain down;
political stability crumbles.

Before the war
male angels
were said to be
beautiful beyond compare
perfect faces of serenity
and radiant wisdom
gentle oceanic eyes
and with sweeping
expansive
white feathered wings
now
they wear necklaces
of skulls
and their eyes
bulge out
grey masses that see little;
their wings are tattered things
moth-like
and within their smokey patterns
you’ll find the faces
of each mortal
they have slaughtered.

Mounting tensions exist
on the border
between this world
and the next
tunnels are being used
to circumvent death
as souls travel directly
from here to there
a blockade
has left more than one
existence
totally annihilated.

A deep hole
a sheer drop
down
winched up on a hook
down you go
down
hundreds of passages
a lost labyrinth
soul smugglers
running hither tither
screaming wildly
in the blackness;
in the small moments
between the screams
if you listen closely
you’ll hear
the sounds of machinery.

– matt at shadow of iris