Judgement day comes
loudly trumpeted
yet completely unexpectedly.
Outdoors the dogs bark lugubriously.
Indoors the high priests pray unintelligibly.
Blessed are the fools who are thought wise
till they keep silent
for in the name of doom
not even saints can hold their tongues.
And we endlessly talked about End times
till the four horsemen of the Apocalypse
rode to the four winds
spreading the news
that in the end
only appearances would be judged.
So, all the beauty salons
and mirrors of the world
were taken by storm.
The dead marched in their Sunday best
with black withered roses in their buttonholes
and fresh earthworms in their pockets
whereas the scariest monsters
offered moral support to their victims
growling mea culpa.
Sat upright in their thrones
haughty angels judged unsympathetically
the mannerism and semblance
of millions of creatures
with quick glances
since first impressions
opened the doors of Heaven or Hell.
I too joined the spectral parade
of zombies and ghouls and false prophets
from every walk of life and death.
I saw white ladies throw ironic flowers
from dilapidated balconies
whereas the children of the damned
mocked the scene with false tears.
Then the sky fell like a torn curtain
on that uncanny company
of insane actors and spectators
who sang the de profundis to each other,
and not without the sardonic counterpoint
of the ominous music of the spheres.
Now leave me alone
said finally
the alien loudspeaker in flames
—the story is over.
