Ray McMahon got cut in half
By inch thick braided steel
Used to pull boxcars up the track
The cable frayed and snapped
The longer length sliced Ray
in no time flat although he
didn’t die right away but
he couldn’t speak and
neither could we.
A black guy in furnace C was
Crushed by a thick steel plate
Dropped by a crane operator drunk
The plate fell lazily soundlessly
Through hazy steel plant space
And the black guy never knew
What was coming or what killed him
The church was made of sandstone
with a red tile Italian roof and
the cornerstone date was 1926
saying For God and Country and we
hear the central message every Sunday
there is a great plan and
we all have our place in it and
we are not alone.
The world is young, dark, and rough. But the bright light of civilization illuminates the highly advanced Island Nation of Athlan, a country of order, balance, and progress.
However, the world is changing, and what is solid becomes fractured. Amidst this epic era of devolution, the never-ending cosmic battle for control of earth has centered on Athlan. While celestial forces gather, wielding power unimagined, the Marfach Gardai, human defenders of Athlan, ready themselves for the final conflict with the lethal, mindless Armies of the Night. Athlanians, great and small, men and women, will die in bloody droves, incapable of understanding or escaping their fate as Great Athlan destroys itself. Witnessing the battle for her planet, Mother Earth joins the fray with a small but extremely potent cadre of once-women who defend the earth with their lives. In the end, everyone will become a pawn on the empyrean board of life and death, and the game is in doubt . . .
