When the sky falls

When the sky falls

it does not shatter at once

it loosens

blue by blue

until even the birds

forget what held them

When the sky falls

it lands in ordinary places

on the plate left in the sink

on the car cooling in the garage

on the silence between people

who meant to be wise

When the sky falls

it is slow enough

for everyone to notice

and still too late

the dogs will whine at nothing

the elders will remember quietly

When the sky falls

it does not smell of sulphur

but of burning plastic

and the trees

for once

do not know what to do

When the sky falls

it comes without mercy

not as fire

not as flood

but as a weight

pressing its blue knee

against our throats

When the sky has fallen

we will not ask for rescue

we will laugh like the frantic

we will know, by then,

the heavens have opened

not to forgive us

but to loose at us

what we have always feared

was already riding among us