abandoned factories
the dark sentinels passed on the road
silent and empty
and what was discarded
or didn’t fall under the auctioneer’s hammer
is stuffed into industrial bins
like entrails at a meat works
the beast was gutted,
a victim on the chopping block
of economic rationalism
when the bosses called it quits
now a quiet and morose tune threads
through the broken windows
like silenced bullets fired into a grand old elephant
as it stands; the losing favorite
unable to move
start a new life, progress
as the ghosts have all