Urns Overturned

The last students you've loved slip out of the room Their chairs ghostly, enshrouded, urns overturned Your eyes survey the wreckage, the whisper-less ruins Vultures and jackals lips lick, poised for their turns This sinking treasure, deserted way-station Empty hull, barren deck -- unrepentant ablation Once-inspired platform and forum, so grand Pitilessly metastasized to crumbs of sand While the gay voices of those Who've abandoned ship with such glee Ring out to shores distant, eternal, carefree