Mary Comes and Goes

 

All the voices in my head

Pounding out instructions

Long after the fact.

How long will I dance

On hot coals and ash

While the children

Poke me with red irons.

I march in a parade

The man behind me

Lashes my back in rhythm

With the drummers

Spiney tail.

By combination

Of knight and bishop,

I try to overthrow Death,

But that tricky b*****d

Knows me too well.

To never again

Sit in a summer field

Munching on wild strawberries,

A shadow comes over me.

The hour glass is drained

I’m left on a sandless desert

Waiting for the end of the world,

But all that waits for me

Is a revolver

With one bullet.