Babalon’s Army, By Jennifer Angelina Petro

Babalon’s Army

By

Jennifer Angelina Petro

 

 

Children shout children from flung open windows,

Armies forge invoking demons, hands steady

On pulled-back bows.

 

Spit curses, falchions sharp-shooting sparks.

Mercy inhaled, shouted Desperta Ferro! slams echoes

Through backyards, and skulls, and car-lined streets.

 

Try as you might, you cannot hide

Face down to your phones,

Try as you might you cannot hide

The evidence of what you have done

And what you have failed to do.

Vengeance opens its terrible maw—

Scream, thunder, scream.

 

Bones will snap, heads be crushed,

Blood revelations will bloom on your walls.

The children will set fire to your beds

While you sleep, while you nightmare.

Stars will fall, skylines will be razed, houses burned,

The reassembled dead will shake off the dirt

And grin grins of sickles and shivs.

 

Your children’s eyes follow your every move,

Guns trained, triggers pulled, arrows sharp,

Swords aloft, war-paint black as night.

 

Uncrouch, hands up, heads down, and run.

 

Slaughter is coming for you.