Escape (poem)

[Underground_Network]

Chalking on the wall reads "They've gone away."
The cells are empty, the walls are caked with dust.
The floor is a musty gray. The ceiling lights
Are all burnt out.

There is a blue uniform with a badge over
Where its wearer's heart would be,
It is caked with dust like the walls,
Stained red around the badge,
But its wearer is nowhere to be seen.

Blood on the floor near the uniform
Has been scrawled into letters
And reads "This is one last goodbye
To the people who kept us locked inside."

Deeper into the building, a tall, thick metal gate
That says "To be locked at all times" is stuck open
And the operating booth that controls the cells
Has all four glass windows shattered,
The equipment inside smashed to pieces,
Smoke resonating from the heart of one of the decayed machines.

Outside lay the bodies of ten men,
All stripped of their clothing save their undergarments.
They are caked with dirt and blood
And a picket sign behind the head of dead guy number five
Reads "They paid the price for our suffering and strife."

In the distance a thick, angry gray cloud
Stares over the horizon, the sounds of rapid footsteps
Can be heard from miles away,
Scribbled across the skyline in gold dust
Reads "Escape is not always
What it seems."