The rain fell
In my sleep
Where I’ve dreamed
So long
Of living

Despite
What nightmare
Waited
Outside these eyes
Held shut

Where each daylight
Showered dust
Bearing heat
Which felt
Like scratches

Amid sunshine
Raining ashes
Down from clouds
Whose sky
Was scorched

Touting flames
With sharpest tongues
Claiming God
Preferred we
Suffer

Under brightness
Speaking judgments
Proving demons
Won
His war

While no angel
Worth her weight
Ever saw
Those lies
Defeated

When our hopes
Remained in ruins
Straying far
Away
Through fear

Watching flares
Spill burning tears
With their sparks
That dropped
Derision

Upon faces
Still too arid
For redemption
Moist
And just

By assuming
Darkest storms
Fared much better
Than
Old worries

Against cinders
Smoking gently
Between evenings
Lost
On grief

Learning water
Almost gone
Won’t replenish
Come
New morning

Facing choices
Hardly wagered
Despite answers
Dry
But real

Left deciding
Fates unknown
Every night
Since we
Surrendered

To existence
Now forgotten
After waking
Death
So warm.

– J. Pigno