Carcass of a Metropolis

Orange flames flickering, flickering
And warlords bickering, bickering
Shall I go and fetch the king?
At once a response, brutal, swift
We mutilate the bodies of deposed despots

Beaten, beaten, beaten and split
Into two. No mercy for deserters
This is the carcass of a once great metropolis
Wild shadows hurl themselves to the ground
Then drown without a sound

They turn to dust
These black winds, they suffocate
The border guards lie in wait
And I am a foreigner here. I am their enemy
And they keep me near.

Code

Deciphering the code
Sitting in lines, these women
Impose order on chaos, redefine lines
And dots and dashes. Elegant shapes
Emerge and then converge

They do not speak
They sit in silence for they come
From disparate worlds, marooned here
Presided over by daemons
In the shape of fear

Of invasion. Sheltered
From the storm only by the delicate
And intricate work they perform
In this great country house amid the heady
Scent of tea-roses and jasmine.