atop tall buildings
and
watch.the
sleepy city.
fail to
wake

they shake
the
houses.they break

the
power-lines,
bloodlines,lines of fortune settled deep within the recessed creases of
the populace's
damp
        palms .


         ---

and in
failing to offer alms to the
dark
wanderers ,
mankind's blackened heart
prepares for each final
act of
self-betrayal .

and
clouds       open
                   to the
       closed .