Second Signal

Second Signal Is anyone still receiving? Is anyone still awake? Found a tower split wide open Found a battery with one last breath to take Do not answer if you’re hungry Do not answer if you’re armed Do not answer if you’re selling heaven We have already suffered that harm We pulled the wire from the wall Fed it through the broken glass Wrapped a stripped line round a car antenna And waited for the weather to answer There was blood on the instruction manual Mold on the emergency plan Someone laughed when the lights came on Then hid their face in both their hands Dead town Dry mouth Names scratched into plastic Old world Small now Still finds a way to happen We thought the dark was empty We thought the dead stayed dead But something moved inside the speaker And learned the shape of our breath Second signal Coming through the wire Second signal The silence got a mouth We are not saved We are not clean We are the wound Learning to speak Second signal The silence got a mouth And it’s calling us out First reply came after midnight Three clicks and a woman’s name Then a child said “Don’t tell them where we are” We watched the whole room change Someone reached for the volume Someone reached for a gun Someone said this could be the future Someone said that’s how these things always begun No law No bell No map worth unfolding One spark One wire Same hands on the knives We built a door from the wreckage Then argued over the keys We called it shelter Called it order Called it keeping The wolves outside Second signal Coming through the wire Second signal The silence got a mouth We are not saved No kindness in our teeth We are the wound Learning to speak Second signal The silence got a mouth And it’s calling us out If you can hear this Do not come here yet If you can hear this We are not ready yet We still vote for the loudest room We still cut the roots off anything that blooms We still build the cage by hand Then swear it’s mercy when the children stand If you can hear this Keep your children low If you can hear this There are things you should not know Second signal Crawling through the wire Second signal The silence got a mouth We are not saved We are not free We are the old world Begging to breathe Second signal The silence got a mouth And it’s calling us out No tower left No holy ground No one above No way around We are here We are here We are—