Crown in Red

Amongst this den, a din of voices Equal in their resplendent iniquity (Soup of botulism) Clothed in the trappings Of their myriad debauchery (Stale and foul) Fawning over Baubles of gold Inelegant ornaments Draped over fineries A perspiring stench Crudely caste, vainglorious Plagues have taken Residence in Fecund skins (Pale as milk) Welts of putrid puss painted with Fat liquor and chalk Applied as medicine They droop from balconies And collapsing thoroughfares Of ruined structures Raise me Raise me Raise me Raise thy fingers Lace like filaments Intravenous Tesh bore within Trotted out before their seat The pungent regal sneer All manner of feigned disgust Usher us onward with scorn Worn and vulnerable Served a finite purpose In the cratered depths Destined for the bite Of another whip Surrender, surrender, No hope of pardon in sight If we tender, we tender Resign ourselves to this life So we remember, remember The reverie of an absent home Beg not for forgiving Pray not for emancipation No longer hope for revenge Yet for the longing alone Surrender, surrender Surrender, surrender Surrender, surrender No surrender in sight Chains that are leaden Dig into heels And have riven me to smithereens No surrender, surrender No surrender in sight No surrender, surrender No surrender in sight The blood is emollient Shackles have loosened The slightest chance of release Surrender surrender No surrender in sight Surrender, surrender No surrender in sight We tear away the stays And flee from their eyes Into crowds of the terrified No surrender, surrender No surrender in sight At once we are lost In the audience drawn To our pathetic demise Salacious they pour Over one another Onwards to the outer reaches Yelp and hiss with strangled laughter Insubordinate hands The sons and daughters Stripped of their personhood Running for their lives The city clung to the edge Of a precipice below A wide and billowed expanse A dreadful comprehension Unravelled in welling eyes Amidst the pleats of dust A vast army red in tooth and claw On steeples, hilts, and obelisks Traction engines hauled By compatriots of the irons Drag the terrible machines The banners cast in cardinal Bathed in the blood of their foe Dragging it north! Dragging it north!