Littera Scripta Manet, R.M. Engelhardt

LITTERA SCRIPTA MANET

When
The power goes down
Electricity goes out

Words mysteriously
Disappear
The voices
Gone

Something’s broken

In this place

Had a 1000 dreams
Will have 1000 more

But these streets are
Desolate

Abandoned

It’s no longer
The carnival

No longer
The temple

The voices have scattered
To other worlds & places

Died or retired

Forgotten who they are

Forgotten how to
Worship the city lights
The verses the music
The words at night

A city without poetry

Has no soul

Nothing left

But memories
And crime

Dirt
And dust

But one-day soon
Someone will
Pick up a book

And invoke the words

That annihilate
All despair

All desperation
Misery & indifference

And will rebuild
This city again

Littera Scripta Manet

The written words endure

~ R.M. Engelhardt ©2023