The pale shadows flickered on the wall
Offering a refuge from the dismal glance
The man sat at a table with his hands crossed
And muttered a blessing in a drunken stupor

The somber room reeked of oppressive piety
Spreading the disease of divine hypocrisy
In the shadows a wife and child slept
Weary eyes closed in a listless grief

A silence hovered outside in a pitch-black darkness
The man’s delusion
Demons with lizard-like tongues and blackened wings
A curse on his beloved
His fearful eyes darted around the desolate room
And caught a shotgun hanging on the wooden wall

The man sat at the edge of a bed
And farewelled his sleeping family
The cold barrel pressed against their forehead
In a calm devotion before the blast

The thunder silenced into a whisper
And raised the smoke of lost tomorrow