XI

The dull illumination's pall
sent shadow 'cross the scene.
The sun, these days behind the smog;
Black Moon, dead light obscene.

My captors chanted, sang and jerked,
and brandished shivs and sticks
as though the Radiation's stage
cast them as lunatics.

I knew the fate that robbed their minds
and kept my body young
while every human molecule
was by its hangman strung.

Despite their vicious, sick intent,
I didn't own the blame
to hate these creatures, pitiful.
All victims. All the same.


XII

They kicked up nature's detritus
and moved in for the kill
while at the back my captor girl
stood wide-eyed, frozen still.

Medusa; Gorgon, my demise,
now petrified by fear.
Her snakes my desperation,
my crime a single tear.

As cunning violence rent the air
and blades strove for my blood,
she came to life and hefted arms,
a serpent in the mud.

My plundered gun her shining sword,
she set their demons free.
Their thoughts became but crimson clouds;
their dreams rained over me.


XIII

She loosed my bonds and begged me to
forgive her cruel deceit;
with food so rare in this black glare,
I was a source of meat.

My liberated captors draped
across the sticky ground;
my first taste of community
in decades never found.

I told her I could understand
the fear that drove her wrong;
dead people in a dying land
have nowt to keep them strong.

She took my hand and sparks aroused
determination's cue.
We'd join our strengths, resume the hunt
for life regained anew.


XIV

We watched eternal starless night
as if to seek a way,
and then that moon winked down at us,
black glinting light at play.

The birth of possibilities
then burgeoned in my mind.
If sun could flash, the world could heal;
regenesis defined.

Our mem'ries didn't hold our names
or stale identity,
but in this barren, hopeless world,
I now had hope for me.

Night Adam in a lifeless waste,
Night Eve to plant a tree.
The future would be ours to mould;
perhaps my destiny?