Tragic Calculation

First is skin constricting
Tight on dusty old bones
Blood under the breathing suit
That one day wears out

Second is forgotten innocence
Lost and on the loose in a skeletal earth
Sex on top of a breathless chill
That takes in lust like heat

Third is a repetitive joke
Life is a careful contradiction
Love the hatefulness to a blistered degree
That can’t wait to laugh to tears

Fourth is madness’ fruition
Without a care or a word to utter
To sink into gullible minds
To kill what’s already dead

Fifth is death’s encore
Ghosts with delusions of grandeur
Clinging to the emptiness of their former shells
But they’re merely stalling the curtains drawing

Finally, there’s a painful number to count
Just you and I adding up meaningless waste
That eats us whole
But we’ll never know the half of it