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| Las Vegas |
Goodbye, Las Vegas
By Tim Shey
“Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.”
“He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying”
“Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal”
--T.S. Eliot
“The Waste Land”
_____
Desert jackals
Run to their destruction
Hollow eyes see nothing
Behind shades of glass
Painted Jezebel faces
Unrecognized by man
Mourning becomes electric
As piercing city lights
Rape the virgin night
This place never sleeps
And never awakes from death
Black Jack table bait
Roll-the-dice breath
Throw your money down
This is casino heaven
Idolatry never felt so good
This harlot language doesn’t speak
Straw fires always burn fast
I see the Prophet Jeremiah weeping
Over a people brought down to bankruptcy
By a Queen, a King and three Aces
A hitchhiker wanders hardened streets
With his burden on his back
This is the heart of darkness
Lifeless buildings built with foolish gold
I see Sodom burning
And bodies turned to ash
They were very fluent
In arrogance, pride, adultery
And enviro-paganspeak
You have sold your soul to Satan
Do you remember Noah’s Flood?
The City of David was sacked by Romans
And America by Marxist-Darwin thugs
The Stranger leaves the graveyard
And the stench of Vegas Past
And hitches a ride to Barstow
Across the relentless Mohave
On Interstate Fifteen
_____
Apocalypse Now
Las Vegas Earthquake
This is Sodom! This is Sodom!
I am a Stranger in the Earth
God Will Draw The Wicked into cities Marked for Destruction
A Vision about George Washington and America
The Nakedness of Noah
". . . Vegas isn’t a real city. It’s a Sodom and Gomorrah theme park surrounded by hideous exurban sprawl and wasteland so barren it makes the moon look like an English rose garden."
ReplyDelete"Though people enjoy coming to Vegas, what they really love is leaving. Every other passenger wanting to board a flight out of Vegas wears that same tell-tale look of fatigue, remorse, heatstroke and get-me-out-of-here-ness. I spent two months reading Dante in college, but I didn’t really understand Purgatory until I spent five minutes at McCarron International Airport."
"I have a front-row seat at the apocalypse."
--J.R. Moehringer
Happy New Year! I hope it finds you safe and among friends. :)
ReplyDeleteIn my prayers,
-T
Theresa:
ReplyDeleteJust got dropped off here in Wilson, Wyoming. I just hitchhiked from Dubois this morning; it was ten to twenty degrees below zero (wind chill) in the Wind River Mountains. Got a ride with a deputy sheriff for thirty miles. I am here visiting some friends.
I hope you have a very blessed 2011.
My sentiments exactly on Vegas. The place turns my stomach. I see nothing but vanity, idolatry, greed,sexual immorality and death. It will probably be like Sodom and Gomorrah with angels telling Christians to GET OUT NOW and never look back lest you turn into a pillar of salt.
ReplyDeleteBless you my brother for telling it like it is.
Do you think it can be much worse than Chicago!!! Book, White flesh bleeds easily, 500 deaths a year, or is it a month, I have drove by Las Vagas, The only difference in it an Reno is the size, Now we have Gambeling Canesos in just about all the Reservations, The whole USA is under Judgement, Beleive that,
DeleteThe last time I hitchhiked through Las Vegas was December of 2005. As I walked through that city, I said, "I hate this place!" I asked the Lord not to make me hitchhike through Las Vegas again. I have never been through Vegas since.
ReplyDeleteThere are three places that I have hitchhiked through that are under a lot of bondage (spiritual oppression): Las Vegas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Arcata, California--probably the enviro-pagan capital of the United States.
I love your poem. You have quite a way with words!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I like these two stanzas:
ReplyDelete"Desert jackals
Run to their destruction
Hollow eyes see nothing
Behind shades of glass
Painted Jezebel faces
Unrecognized by man
Mourning becomes electric
As piercing city lights
Rape the virgin night
"This place never sleeps
And never awakes from death
Black Jack table bait
Roll-the-dice breath
Throw your money down
This is casino heaven
Idolatry never felt so good"
Powerful words. And yes, I see the connection to my own poem. It's sad how many live with such veils, and think their interactions are real? "Hollow eyes see nothing... Painted Jezebel faces... Rape the virgin night." Wow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Jessica.
ReplyDelete