A Dream Of Hell

I could not fail
to recognise the smell

Sulphur and gas
with pig manure
onions at second hand
burnt fat, burnt fish, burnt rags,
traces of sweaty vest
and unwashed socks.

Jet fighters ripped
what air was Ileft
to ribbons of steel wire.
Pneumatic drills,
Ilike giant demented dentists
drilled at the street
just for the hell of it.

In dark you could not tell from light
multitudes
sought without hope
for privacy.

I woke, and said
‘Why should I fear?
Hell's not unlike the earth!’