Beneath The Ground

Hidden away beneath the ground
red clay beneath her nails,
she frantically claws at dirt walls
encircling her on all sides.

A rat scurries in a vertical tunnel,
liquid seeps from the surface.
Abandoned ... no way out.

Metal grates from up above,
rusted hinges screech.
Sunrays drizzle down, veining hope
swallowed quickly by the black mass.

Wailing is heard from far away,
pleas and tears flood the fetid air.

The rat fights viciously
against a slow death.
Violently bulldozing into
impenetrable soil, endlessly
slamming his head into the
now reddening slope.

Lying crumpled on the ground
she watches the opaque shadow
ascend the sinkhole of life--
no sign of illumination drips down.

Groans escape her lips.
On hands and knees, she tries to stand
but she's locked into a spinning whirl.
Blood now paints her sullen slate.
Collapsing, she sprawls out onto
the now cooling floor.

With a trembling hand, she
reaches up and touches the
throbbing sensation. The cavity in
the ground consuming her--
becoming one with the hole
in her head.

The rat defeated writhes into a ball,
trapped within the depths of hell.

Eyes burning and blurred,
light flickering out--
desperate not to die alone,
she stretches her fingers and
lays them on the back of the
one dying with her.

The rat scoots his body closer
beneath her touch and together
they breathe their last.