angst cycle (iii) — [Z] (i)

the towers are dying in the mist
fading like an instance of the broken bulb

imagine you’re listening to a language
the speech is your favourite speech
you’ve heard it so many times before

but half way through a word changes
it changes to another word with the same meaning
but you don’t know the other word

and the frequency of the strangeness slowly increases
your understanding of your favourite speech
is fading fading like the tower

near the very end of the speech
the words are alien but the expression familiar
but the expression changes

not to another expression you know but don’t expect
no to an expression in the voice you don’t know
you’ve never heard you don’t understand what it means

you don’t know the emotion
it’s not a human emotion
but you know the audience

the human audience
are responding to an expression they know
an emotion they know

the towers are dying in the mist
fading like an instance of the broken bulb