by Peter W. Robinson

Created on: February 22, 2010

In Perm


We walk our beat like always, on a night like all the rest,
my partners name is Sergei, we are cops and we're the best
We've been at this forever, nothing happens we don't know
from the river to the downtown bars, we see what it won't show
This city full of colleges now blanketed in snow

A town of church and science with a darkened soul we share
as intimate as family with it's secrets we must bare

At work we see the worst of things that people often do
Some nights it seems that all we do is tighten down the flue
we drink too much to handle it and that's a problem too  

The snow is blowing sideways all the criminals are shelved
I permit myself some vodka and Sergei helps himself
This winter seems unusual but then, they all are bad
Tonight we found a frozen boy, his eyes were only sad
By spring there'll be a hundred more just like that hapless lad

Metal shrieks and startles us, a bakers rusty door
a lonely sound through wind and snow, a plea for something more
My handset starts to vibrate, I jump and start to smile
but right away I'm worried-nothing good comes handset-style
In Perm tonight a demon lands, decides to stay awhile   

It seems there is a problem in a bar across the town
this always seems to happen when our shift is winding down
they're calling all the horses in, there's no way we can hide
they need a little backup; we shrug and find our ride
Its likely just some college kids filled up with drink and pride
 
As we approach the freeway I can see a reddish glow
enveloping the skyline like a mother-kids in tow
"Oh, no" I say, "Not this" I think, not fire, not again
still can't forget the last time, what it cost us way back then
Sergei doesn't look at me, it's hell where we have been

I'm no frightened rookie cop and Sergei's tough as stone
but this is not like fighting crime, this is flesh and bone
fire is a different sort, there's no one to detain
no questions needing answering, no closure to attain
only blackened bodies and a searing living pain

The trucks have done the water thing and put the devil down
smoke as black as death itelf still pouring from the ground
Sergei says "let's do this thing" and I nod to confirm
he parks a half a block away, my eyes begin to burn
I'm sure it's from the smoke out here, not memories returned

The first thing that I notice is a woman standing there,
no one seems to see her and no one stops to stare
she's screaming out into the night, with eyes that do not blink
A sound like nothing I have heard, so loud I cannot think
I want to

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