they moved as they always have
with stumbling scraping steps
that gradually become less confused

my first memory was their eyes
pale, strangely large, filled with hunger, searching
and their hair floating wild in the night
echoing their desperate movements

now I see them emerging from the fogs of memory
their waving hands long fingered
with nails like claws
turning their heads from side to side seeking
stumbling down the darkened passages
tortured

when they found the moon
they scorned it
rejected the pale ghost of the sun
they wanted nothing less than the great furnaces of the skies
Aldebaran, Deneb, Altair, Rigel, Alpha-Centari
but they searched in tunnels far from the freedom of the night
leading to false paradigms and delusional discoveries
where they expected unrefuted clarity
they exposed schemes and lies
still they searched until their strength was almost done
until, at the penultimate door
in terror, they found themselves.

From the Illustrated Zombies 2010