Like spent shell casings
Mindlessly strewn
Deflowered and simmering
Billowing with plumes of unrest

Bygone worlds, linger
In the stagnant seas of kin
Glittering hopelessly
Until their sparks
Drift and dwindle unseen

Waves of the foregone
Remain
As shadowy forebearers
As festering heaps of scrap

The multitudes
I’ve dispatched with pride
Have deferred to death
For the coiling shackles
Of unyielding silence

Like spent shell casings
Swallowing
The floor of my conscience