The assembly in shades of gray

Vaulted ceilings, buttressed steel

Memory's phantoms, parts when assembled, accentuate the whole, the hole left behind

Filling in one by one, weary grins against the setting sun

Nervous laughter, purging emotions

So much time has passed, so much more yet to come

The mania spreads an airbone infection

Searching for closure in this open ground

Music drones on, images flash by, procession files through into the solitude of night

Promises once made fall away like shedding skin piled upon the floor, abandoned and forgotten

Disintegration catalyzed by disinterest

Selb-absorption returns to stasis

The petty, the trivial back to the fore

Narcissus regains his stranglehold, ensuring the cycle recurs

Everyone's a liar at a funeral