something soft fell to the earth that night

still warm from descent, chalk on slate

the sleep abandoned heard the faint hum

the damp leather crack as it hit the island

pulsing, the colour of ripe corn and battery yolks

the smell of june drop fruit and charcoal

from its bowels crawled a single, white fawn

all teeter and stumble, dripped with mucus

from the throat of a child, grunting and screaming

sweet armageddon, a crown of ashoka atop its head