Death of a Nihilist [poetry]

01. coronach

the head was laid in the casket

empty eye sockets opened

staring upward

to the unresponsive god nailed above the altar;

to the unmoving archangels mounted on the walls;

to the still marble statues and murals gazing down from the vaulted ceilings.

empty eye sockets opened

waiting

for those ethereal smiles and faint regal frowns across the stone faces to match

its own sewn-shut blue lips and expressionless bloated forehead;

for those heavenly arms to gently cradle its pretty dismembered head

whose hair was replaced by blooming flowers, and wrists, neck, chest, thick green vine nests.

the body's empty eyes sockets gaped

wide, divine

—like newborn black voids.

the remnant of planets' collapsation found

flaked with dry red droplets around the rim of the sullen eyelids.

the body's empty eyes sockets gaped

a vacuum space

swallowed up the lit candles and prayers and sobs;

swallowed up the golden sunlight slanting through stained glasses;

swallowed up the invisible mass that pulled in on itself.

the mouth were locked,

but the head screamed through its eyes.

empty eyes sockets forever frozen in terror

pleading, pleading

as the flowers, the vines,

crept up its jaws, its chin,

climbing inside the empty eye sockets

where the petals, the leaves would blossom

once the casket was closed and buried.

⸻

coronach: a song or lamentation for the dead

prompt: when I opened my eyes