Erasure

An old Victorian building burnt down today.
Not terror (although terror was involved),
Fire, to measure how far we’ve evolved,
A crashing image of LED dread
To follow you to your deathbed.

Family, the needle I’ve been unable to thread,
Fairground wheels in my head,
Ghost trains and the silence of imminent thunder.
Lightning, tear this tapestry asunder,
Reveal a broad industrial wasteland where we’ll build a new world from the ruins.

Take a picture. It will last longer.
The dream grows steadily stronger,
Vivid. Lithium batteries in a charger,
The image growing larger,
Larger than the biggest stage,

Childhood growing more distant with age.
Stop, check the timetable board in the sky,
Trains to set your watch by
As you descend into the haunted lower levels.

Revels
Hastily ended.
Entire lines of history scored out and hastily amended.