Precipices

Together by the harbor
We watch the windows glow.
All red and black and lustful,
And smoke over the roofs.

The night, it fell so horrid,
A thunder on the eyes.
All black in its fierce framing,
And stars over the roofs.

The men, they run like pebbles
Rolling down the avenues.
All screaming, dire and wordless,
And lies over the roofs.

Together by the harbor
The night’s become so strange.
Like falling down a ravine,
All torn and disarranged.

The fire, it burns so gently
Like it won’t want to kill.
All ablaze and red and restless,
But the trees upon the hill.

The smell swells up like powder
From blazing cannonballs.
All charred and fragile ashes,
And men are escapeless dolls.

The fire, it came from the bottle
Lying empty by my feet.
All white, innocent and fearless
Like a saint of glorious deeds.

The towers shine like candles
Of hot sparkles and of death.
Molten rock, all disassembled,
Like apostles without breath.

Together by the harbor
We watch the windows glow.
‘Til morn lights the horizon
So hollering, so slow.

Together by the harbor
We witness all their ends.
And then we’re away together
In a mist all proud and red.