A Wicked Cough

A Wicked Cough
Angela Malzow 2014

There were angels lighting the night
A blazing fire as blood caked their hands
Glory burning from their eyes
As ashes mixed with sand
Time watched over the rift
Where Hell and Heaven clashed
Before the naked split
They arose a mighty wave
Of crimson bits on supple skin
No sorrow breached, yet, droplets fell
Grins became laughter, maniacal and fierce
Angels devoid of sympathetic care
Thus the sky instead wept the tears
Apathy ripped from demon throats
Painted the white of the purest rose
Gathered sweat from the dead
And the rain became an acid breath
The Night tossed against the violence
A torrent of beauty burned black
Became onyx stone agleam with fury
Fractured by every mindless attack
While war consumed the Earth
Humanity melted away
Leaving the drum and stomp of indulgence
Upon the flesh shucked with dismay
Corruption drizzled saccharine bliss
Upon the tongues of the diseased
As Zeus' and Hades' foreheads kissed
A universe fell to its knees
All pawns under predestined ideals
Gods and devils alike
Feasting on the mortal meals
To gain a simplistic insight
Though love is a fleeting gasp
And pain is a delicate obsession
Wickedness has become the clasp
Binding with possessive intention
Licking the fire from their fingertips
Tasting the delicious infection of sin
All that had been divine
Sang of evil akin