Lain among those scattered papers;
Scored in blood red ink
Redemption always but one or two paychecks away
From more carefree days;
That loaded forty-four set right on top
Which seemed to scream-
Die or change.

One more drink away from the leap of faith
To which ever end he might dive
The broken wheel which cannot be healed
On the things that never seem to work
Engine idling and destination unknown
The purrings of his desires whisper-
Change or die.

Draining the last of his bottle into the glass
Raised, as if in a toast
To drink it slowly or in one last quick hurrah
Into an oblivione
That slender thread like an embylical to this life
Memories whisper like the wind
Die or change.

Silent tears moving down a face left unaffected
Too weak to feel anything
But the widening chasm of desparation with no obvious end
As the earth falls out from under his feet
Clinging fast and hard to what is left
Dreams echoing in the abyss
Change or die.

Eyes closed as the glass is raised and the last wish spent
Awash in a numbing fire
Of the empty promises left in the bottom of the glass
Where nothing really changes
Save that the world continues to spin around him
Leaving him dizzied by the sound
Die or change.

A gasp of breath escapes as he looks into a cool blue reality
Where even the booze doesn't suppress the shivers
His fingers touching as if to touch death it's self
Drowning in a cold and viscous black
As that breath is held dear and tight until
His ears are left ringing
Change or die.

2.

Granite carved
attention starved
Meglo-puppets
with golden strings

Locked away in the high rise
The secret asylums
of a societal mind

Deaf, dumb, and blind ...

Famine lifts our eyes
to the plague
of our own indifference

Charity is on
the street corner stage
letting her body
tell lies-
in a leather mini-skirt
and fish-net thighs;
For a couple bucks
you can go around
the world-
But still be
deaf, dumb, and blind-

It's a mostly painless
form of suicide-
As you watch
the god of the hour
do a triple backwards
axle-
from the 57th floor
of a glass-encased heaven
that just shattered
on the streets below

Which reminds you
to reset your watch
back to standard time.

©2005 Porphyry