Amid quiet crumbling beauty

we tread with light deliberate steps

watchful for what could happen

for some unexpected opening in this damp and fragile earth

into which we may fall

Here lies evidence of possibility

we see through our sunglass obscured eyes

all there is to see of what remains after abandonment and its aftermath

decay in slow motion

a death in silence

What will we have learned having come as witnesses

to imagine what was and then what has become juxtaposed

And can we say with conviction in our voices when we emerge

from this moist sinking landscape

to walk again on the even ground of modernity

that we understand

Who left first and who was the last to cross the bridge

Who won

How shiny was the prize?