The fortress fell like a tonof powdered sugar on top of a Lego city
the white dust exploded, as though avolcano had been
sleeping beneath the foundation
The fear and rubbleengulfed feet,
whole blocks lined with toy-car ambulances
(a chorus ofbirthday-party kazoos crying against the Sirens)
The Great Overseer wassuddenly a puff chalk dust
and our vast pride like shadows falling on the deaf
all our precious knowledge reduced to ash,
shapeless piles of brick andbeams
The survivors covered in white
with irregular lines of tears andsweat down their cheeks
Perhaps thousands dead
there is no counting thedamage
there is no counting anything
The world shivers before theirtelevision screens
as they see again and again the smoke and fire
whichthey cannot bear to watch
and cannot move away from,
a world holding tightto a live electrical wire
Truth swarms through the world like a tidalwave
and hits stomachs like an iron fist;
it says in its age-old voice"You wouldn't listen when I told you.
Money is only coloredpaper
stock only a comforting mirage
and skyscrapers only cleverly designedcard castles
built on shifting sand."