At the precise moment
Beneath inevitability

From within this nucleic bubble
Of disjointed stillness

I can just make out the whispers

The gray-green haze of aged betrayal and
Cyan-tinted halo of every guilty sibilance
Seep through hollow crimson airwaves
And flood each sensory input like
Color-coded chloroform

Diluted just enough
To leave my consciousness intact

To allow me to witness the foundational disassembly

Not to experience the event
(That's what aftershocks are for)
But to document it for future reference

To study the lasting effects
Of impact

And act
Accordingly