Clowns of Terror and of Death

Clowns of terror and of death:
get back in your car and leave.
Let me catch my shattered breath
by gasping for what I believed
had been my solace and reprieve -
until I dared my head to turn
away from where messiahs bleed
to watch bad cities crash and burn

Clowns of terror and of death:
you have left less time to live
than willow's weeping baby's breadth,
or liquor's seep through liver sieve.
Now I poise me to receive
the recompense that traitors earn -
suggesting that messiahs need
to watch bad cities crash and burn.

Clowns of terror and of death:
all that you had left to give
we gave from you. Now do the math,
or pull the plunder from your sleeves.
From your coffers we retrieve
a potters' field of souls interred
before messiahs chanced to weed
and watch bad cities crash and burn.

Avatourists, three abreast,
we will wait for your return:
Campfire tending: mending, lest
we watch bad cities crash and burn.