With flowers to flank its privileged placement,

Paradise, above and beyond the horde,

is constructed despite the defacement

of a landscape in which savage hues soared:

A mask with a toothless grin looks faceless

as it’s tacked onto the collective heart

of a nation that pegs itself raceless,

contradicting the mask’s plaster-cast art:

Down below, though, the clouds blow like rainbows

and the hammers break hearts like blue dandies

and the blood circulates as the pain flows

and the spinster still smacks on her candies:

Recused from the pilgrim’s rescue mission,

our brothers on high bray to conscription.