this mass hysteria
leaves a bad taste in my heart
the broken monolith I built
for myself and loved ones
mirrored by the fallen skyscrapers
and of those still standing
I can never look upon
the same way again
a too familiar complacency
grown deceptively benign
burned over and over at the stakes

so high
the undiscovered planets I long for
my rocket sits wasting fuel on the pad
I’ve only to push the right buttons
on the enigma machine dancing before me
to put Humpty Dumpty back together
of which the gods have devilishly playful
added an alien mettle
reflected in the headlines as they are
but don’t have to be
the future I can foretell
though uncertain how to reassemble
frivolously dissected for curiosity’s sake
by others not of this world

as once upon a time
there seemed no end to steak and gravy
I taught flowers to reach for the sky
raised pedigree hounds from Heaven
the lottery always prayed for
by my doppelgänger self
with a major redecoration of
be careful what you wish for
thundering ominously all around

history calls out as a lover in distress
from some parallel dimension
disjointed universe
to spark resolve
correct the latitude and longitude
as now each of us in our own way
must answer the toll of that bell

© 2001
Revised © 2018

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01/24/2018

Author's Note: Written in the aftermath of 9/11.

Posted on 01/24/2018
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti