Where Philly Never Falls Apart
10
When the sky started to fall,
it’s not the sirens, but it’s the screams
that made the call:
Our universe was ripping at its seams.
It’s not hell that’s broken loose,
but all of life, in just a single breath.
It’s the universe’s final introduce,
the final steps, to death.
9
The walls of the world,
come tumbling down.
This life’s last minutes unfurled,
in Earth’s every temple and town.
City Hall’s on fire,
but not one soul to pity it.
The water climbs up and higher,
as the ground beneath me split.
8
But even then, my feet ran
over the shaking ground,
past every dying woman and man,
through the city’s cries in surround.
Every mother’s plea, a tale I’ll never know.
And every home, a temporary grave.
7
I was much too young,
when my heart was 25,
yet with the end among
I’ve grown to be a tall child, unready to die.
I don’t know if there’s a sky,
beyond this storm.
This could really be,
where Philly falls apart.
6
I breathe once more,
the moment I see you.
Even at the end of time’s score,
There’s only one soul mine belongs to.
5
Running into your arms again,
my only home,
I knew right then,
I’d never let you die alone.
4
You weren’t down for forever,
and we were,
never meant for each other.
…but we face the end
together.
3
The old song’s words,
“nothing ever lasts forever.”,
But it’s the end of the world,
and we’re starting over.
For it’s not always the end that’s thus.
Because sometimes, the apocalypse is within us.
2
I climb into the dark, for you.
hoping you’ll wait in the stars, for me.
And into the plunge of light we go,
holding hands so tight, a forever-rope.
1
Because right here, in these two hearts
This is where, Philly never falls apart.
Samrithaa “H.V.” Vadivelan is a student at Methacton Senior HS, vice president of Lower Providence’s Teen Advisory Board, and director of Zha Literary Arts Magazine. She is also the web admin for Element Literary Arts Magazine, and a certified staff writer for her school newspaper, The Windy Hill.