The subway tunnels sigh Damp air rushing up through oiled grates Drawn from phlegmy pools That fester beneath the streets
Avert your eyes and grit your teeth This too shall pass The gutters are packed with strangled souls This too shall pass The steel is melting, the mortar is crumbling This too shall pass My words will fade and these pages will rot This too shall pass
My fingers trace tile walls And caress the crass graffitos That fill the pits and cracks Like eczema crusting a scar
Avert your eyes and grit your teeth This too shall pass The gutters are packed with strangled souls This too shall pass The steel is melting, the mortar is crumbling This too shall pass My words will fade and these pages will rot This too shall pass
Above, the world buzzes Wires, fridges, flickering fixtures Commercial jingles and radio chatter Blaring klaxons and whispering mendicants
The city has fallen ill Its foundations sink into muck
Avert your eyes and grit your teeth This too shall pass The gutters are packed with strangled souls This too shall pass
And I crawl the streets Gobbling its corrupted flesh Even as it sickens me
Oh, how the angels kiss my senses And how the fear shrouds my mind As the beast dies all around me I could not feel more alive