‘We are the annihilation of nature. We are the blight. We are the poison in the root of love. We are the final tremor; after that, silence stillness death. We are the light in the uppermost window going dark. We are the broken shopping cart rusting in the mud. We are the undiscovered sound that haunts your sleep. We are the shadow across your throat. We are the oil burning on the sand and the blade of the razor that lashes your skin. We are the memory that you cannot shake, that holds you by your adolescent hair under the water in the shallow end of the pool. We are toxins in your lunch. We are the sting of recrimination when you shuffle from the doorway into the sound of traffic and the choke of heavy air. We are the smear across the lens of your glasses. We are doubt. We are that loss for words when she touches your cheek with gentle fingers. We are obedience. We are succour. We extinguish dreams with the vapour of our breath, leaning over you and exhaling the smog of paralysis.’ lyrics for They Whispered Death from Songs of Love and Disaster. | image @slightlysmudged