In Our Slavery R. W. Haynes In our slavery we stack the bricks That will record what strength we had When liberty drove us forward, blind and mad, Believing heart immune to evil tricks. These dogs bark at each other in the night, Necessary music for the nightmarish suite, Companion counterpoint the clocks repeat, Signaling dissonance, bark, bark, and bite. If Poe were here, surely Poe would know, The dark dominion’s threats must now be faced As half-mad horror jostles for place And half-crazed Hell moans terribly below. In this dark-bricked churchyard we grip knives And pray somehow some goodness survives. 44