the creeping crawling crud
as thick and black as old blood
shoe soles suck
as they get stuck
to the muck in the street
an ugly flood of fetid mud
feeding rivers of slick seeping sludge
flowing as dark as a murder of crows
and as hard as concrete
rock walls crumble
and stone tall towers tumble in its path
every county town bubbles to the brim
as it methodically attacks
climbing up and down
the chimney stacks
to drown every soul within
it silently streams into dreams
from under beds and windowscreens
shapeshifting with the shadows
like cats in the night
stealing the final breath
plucking the sight from bright youthful eyes
as feverish whispering waves
scream from the skies
swarming clouds
of locusts gnats and flies
devouring all
short tall thick or thin
from the fleshy morbidly obese
to boney bags of skin
a violent release
indiscriminate assassination
taking life to death
and everything else within
