Untethering

“God is dead” they said
Spoke nothing of the yawning black
The dizzy plunge of orbit lost
Dischordant bass beneath the melody 
 
And yes we dress the vacancy 
Gaudy streamers festoon ruins
Multicoloured bunting gaily flaps 
On pediments now tilted on the sand
 
Few revellers peer in hollowed hearts
To glimpse via cracks in blasted walls 
Huddled limp in ash and dross
Dignity beat bloody under pride
 
Because we’ve never been so happy
Under gathering gloom clinking cups
Toasting ourselves to tinny anthems 
We gaily reel untethered in cold space 
 
Beyond the gleam of all that is now night
We dream in red and the spoiled white
Enrobed in patchwork scraps of heavens cloth
Self-made beasts in borrowed finery