"The car is on fire ... and there is no driver at the wheel.
The sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides, and a dark wind
blows. The government is corrupt, and we were all so many drunks with the
radio on and the curtains drawn. We're trapped in the belly of this horrible
machine.
... and the machine is bleeding to death.
The sun has fallen down and the billboards are all leering; and the flags
are all dead at the top of their poles.
It went like this... The buildings tumbled in on themselves. Mothers
clutched their babies, picked through the rubble, and pulled out their hair.
The skyline was beautiful on fire, all twisted metal stretching upwards.
Everything was in a thin orange haze.
I said "Kiss me, you're beautiful, these are truly the last days."
You grabbed my hand, and we fell into it. Like a daydream, or a fever."