Andrew Waterhouse
Now the City has Fallen
The radio station is filled with goats,
all telephone lines pulled back to their source,
the city gates closed and locked.
Women are painted red and shackled,
the men given false beards and new names;
I am He Who Looks Nervously Behind Him,
my friend is He Who Looks Nervously Above Him.
They want us all to be very nervous.
The firstborn of a firstborn has to give up
an organ for God. The rich buy poor men’s livers
from secret markets. There is never a shortage.
All trees are being felled as they keep heaven
too far above the earth. The invaders eat only
human flesh. Our children are taken from us
and reared in darkness. It is unclean to wash
the body, only the soul can be scoured bright.
It must be left out on the rooftops. This is the law.
We sit each evening and talk about them;
their strange ways are mysterious to us.
We do not know where they come from.
We only know that they are with us.
all telephone lines pulled back to their source,
the city gates closed and locked.
Women are painted red and shackled,
the men given false beards and new names;
I am He Who Looks Nervously Behind Him,
my friend is He Who Looks Nervously Above Him.
They want us all to be very nervous.
The firstborn of a firstborn has to give up
an organ for God. The rich buy poor men’s livers
from secret markets. There is never a shortage.
All trees are being felled as they keep heaven
too far above the earth. The invaders eat only
human flesh. Our children are taken from us
and reared in darkness. It is unclean to wash
the body, only the soul can be scoured bright.
It must be left out on the rooftops. This is the law.
We sit each evening and talk about them;
their strange ways are mysterious to us.
We do not know where they come from.
We only know that they are with us.
Page(s) 62
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