F

flash back,
back to flashing
lights
over the ancient city
of love? God? or civilization?

flashing back
to flickering insights
into the sad way the
world works.
all numbers, no figures and faces
to fill in the holes of the zeros
of thousands or millions
dead, or dead
inside.

flinching eyelashes
because i want to cry
and want to want to cry
for all of them.
just because i don't see it anymore
doesn't mean it isn't there
every
second
of
every
day.

back to finicky opinions
in the complicated landscape
where i judge
anyone who believes
him or herself to be
right.

finding anew
the defeat, weighing in
to find
how small i am,
in the scope of thousands of years
scholars
conquerors
and men.

hot flash
from the caffeine, and
i still miss it,
in some sick
or beautiful way.

DLS