MOSTLY

MOSTLY

“They come out at night. Mostly.” ALIENS (1986) (dir: James Cameron)

so quiet
almost peaceful

in space
    a hydrogen bomb drops
fast as a feather
equally silent

here however
our parents together
gambollihg in the garden

innocent
             unfallen

not even
a grazed knee

everything on course
ticking like an Swiss watch

ticking
     also
     somewhere down there
way beneath their feet

something in
the rock and stone
down below the earth of Eden
that nourishes everything

shedding heavy particles
yet
   no need for caution, nothing
yet to worry about

and there
to one side
a much disgruntled, disfigured figure

recent transformation
put him in the arcana
rendered him archetypal

whose tale
could be more cautionary

whose loss
              the stuff
of insanity

and yet the flicker of a smile
a flash, a spark
                 and with it
a vision
of annihilation
.
countdown close
ending begun