And You Were Happy

You lift me to your shoulders
So that I may see
But only tendrils of blackness are webbed between trees
The sighted have gone blind
An unmistakable stench
The distorted melted acetate
Incineration never quenched

You lift me to your shoulders
So that they may see
Your equivocating actions, only to appease
Boils defile the unwinding
Rolling backward in reverse
The fiery erasure
To a time before my birth

You lift me to your shoulders
So that I can see
How happy this world made you before I came to be
From an untethered void
Pre-dead, at peace, unaware
A screaming life sprung forward
An innocent nightmare

You lift me to your shoulders
So that I will see
The celluloid facade that ensnares and strangles me
A wand in soapy water
Creates a transitory task
Like a cremation of memories
Before the hero is unmasked

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