No Room for Failure

The F, shrouded in burnt sienna,
has pushed Failure over the edge and derailed G through Z,
precipitating the demise of God through Zeus
and the lesser Hellions, Instigators, Jacks-of-all-trades,
Knaves and Merry Pranksters, and all manner of creatures
including Griffins, Osprey and the Salmon in their Talons,
along with Sanctuaries and their Belfries of ancient vintage
and the Tolling of the bells too, summoning the faithful
to the Matins and Masses, gone.
And thus began a Carillon of Mourning for what the gods
had loved and lost and with the last of their divine powers
they transformed themselves to Crow
who perched in the narrow gap between Birth and Death
and in the underpainting beneath the rail on which Crow sat
a wandering girl was observed
pawing through the wrecked alphabet of the world.

© Paula Marafino Bernett