Can’t find the stinger;
it drowns in drips and dribbles
of raining oceans
pooling on sun-tanned beaches:
perhaps it was never there.
–
There could be many;
microscopic pin pricks jab
into every pore
to nestle and fester, breed
and build their sinewed kingdom.
–
Give the empire strength
beneath the darkening shores.
May they raise mountains,
then climb them beyond the stars;
poison veins to power gods.