this is the world where air burns
and smoke-prayers rise to no-god

where weathered flags wave
and squirrels chuk chuk chuk warnings

here lazy pain wakes to a terrible suspicion

despite good intent 

everything I do participates in destruction 

no appeal is lodged against this conviction 
no remedy comes 

even so 

to comfort this unbearable sorrow

I would fall in love at the very end of things

sink my face into soft wet scent of useless beauty

offer you rest on the rise and fall of my breath

poem by Jo Mariner

Image: Putting the bunting out by Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons