Jehangir Saleh
3 Mendip Cres, Toronto, ON
M1P1Y3

Fire Hydrants
By Jehangir Saleh
Written: April 27, 2002

2:37am
Stand guard
Against a vast epidemic
Of empty
The streets barren
From earlier invasions
Battles fought
With only
One left standing
Erect, alone, exposed

The wind is sore
And cruel
Silence screams
Ravishing each moment
Seconds stumble,
Each one
Mortifying the next

Stand tall
Proud, shielded
By thick red armor
And frozen dog urine
The world is tarnished
And you are rusting
Peeling, falling apart

Random car belches
The occasional
Suicidal scream
And then nothing

Nothing
Upon layers of
Nothing

The worst plagues
Occur in a still
Of silence