Ode of the Suburbs

Somewhere in the suburbs

Of a city—perhaps yours,

But it could well be mine—

An angel I saw smiling

With a syringe in her hand.

In her moment of final epiphany,

She raised her eyes from heaven,

Looked at me and said:

“Because death does not hurt

(Or at least)

It is not as painful as thinking of tomorrow.

If you too want to abandon this world,

This place perverted to the bone,

Then you must defeat your thought

And steal the sense from it all.”

Thus, with these final words,

In my arms she passed away,

Like a gentle whisper.

And here, with nothing else to say,

I am left alone

In the vast grayness.

by Jason R. Forbus