<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Ashes, Ashes </div><div class="">All Fall Down </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">from 1347-1353 </i></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">The Black Plague, </i></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><i class="">(Yersinia pestis), claimed one third of the population of Europe.</i></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""> Born in a time of darkness, </div><div class=""> she’s laid low in her cedar cradle.</div><div class=""> Buboes flare at pit and groin as </div><div class=""> on her cheeks, false roses bloom. </div><div class=""> A parching fever carries her</div><div class=""> beyond her mother’s grace</div><div class=""> even before the dance</div><div class=""> of rattling bones begins.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""> And who’s to blame?</div><div class=""> an aggravated God, </div><div class=""> the sinner, self-proclaimed, </div><div class=""> flaying his flesh with</div><div class=""> with cat-o’-nine tails,</div><div class=""> the sailors dragging pestilence</div><div class=""> ashore in duffel bags,</div><div class=""> the ghetto of immigrants</div><div class=""> rounded up like banished </div><div class=""> books and burned to ashes?</div><div class=""> When no one’s left</div><div class=""> to oversee the barricades,</div><div class=""> nor any left to dig the graves,</div><div class=""> who will be left to blame? </div><div class=""> </div><div class=""> Blame the Basilisk,</div><div class=""> denizen of the dark ages, </div><div class=""> dealer of death and ruination</div><div class=""> He wears the thorn-face of a rooster, </div><div class=""> strapping thighs of dragon,</div><div class=""> the whip tail of a tortured serpent.</div><div class=""> A foul miasma is his breath;</div><div class=""> a single drop of blood is dose</div><div class=""> enough to poison every well.</div><div class=""> Every field he passes is a </div><div class=""> withering reminder of his</div><div class=""> dreadful domination.</div><div class=""> </div><div class=""> You dare not</div><div class=""> Dare Not</div><div class=""> look into the</div><div class=""> mirrors of his eyes.</div><div class=""> The sight of your reflection</div><div class=""> will strike you to the ground. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- b.armstrong</div><div class=""> </div><div class=""> </div><div class=""> </div></div></body></html>