Bodies jostle toward the heatsource, Foot stomp, elbowed in the rib, Muttering voices hoarse, exhale mists That swirl like deadmen's ashes in the wind. Pale lumina saturates the cinder skies, Under which the aged remember The suns of former lives, Their memories the glowing solitary embers Of a world we've left behind. Ahead, a mother veils her babe with rags From a passer-by's ravenous gaze. A man automatously drags A rattle-bag of assorted human remains, Leaving trails in the dirt, Leaving trails in the dirt. We have splintered apart the frame Of this landscape of hellpain, Against smokestack sequoias and asphalt seas, We stumble toward the crematoria. My God, the coldness hurts! As upon the canvas of this frozen Earth We enact the terminus of human innovation, The burning of every breath, The engineered suicide of civilization. Out, out, brief candle, said Macbeth. Into the cull chamber I step, Hoping there at least I will find warmth, In death.