Syd's floorboards 'officially' opened at The Piper, Hastings. Pictures by Philippe Spadaccini and Sean Wallis.

The worms crawl in,

the worms crawl out.

Lyrics dance within my head

A big green worm with rolling eyes,

Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.

The rhyme my only comfort.

I feel them wriggle,

feasting on what’s left.

I hear it then—footsteps, above myself.

 On hardwood they rest.

Perhaps I would reach up,

pound back.

If only I were whole.

They invite their friends, and their friends too,

they all come down to chew on you.

I hear laughter above,

company is over.

I pray, for your sake,

they smell not my putrefaction.

I hope this bag is watertight,

I’ve begun liquefaction.

The footsteps recede,

the laughter subsides,

perhaps they will be the next to die.

Light seeps in, as you lift the floor,

you smirk—satisfied,

as if I have escaped before.

My eyes fall in while your hair falls out,

my brain comes tumbling down my snout.

I rot below, you age above,

stripped of life, stripped of love.

Time and time, passing by,

I simply wait for you to die.

My meats have seeped into the ground,

the worms have starved and moved further down.

I listen as your life goes by,

till only silence shares its cry.

You know now what it is to die,

I hope you had a nice goodbye.

© A Cataclysmic Thesis 2026