Flicker

[REW]

This is just a snippet of a poem. Given the content I think it works.


Flicker

A match is lit and all he sees is fire.
In that moment before exhale and words
he senses apocalypse a frayed leash.
Wide-eyed, he trembles.
No movement - the world moves around him.
He blinks;
a gentle wind and beyond that, silence.

Well I think the last line brings a nice ring to it.  I actually quite like this; however, I have become sick of the word apocalypse.  It suddenly is so over-used it seems to me (I am guilty of using this word as well).  I wonder if there is another word that might do well?  If apocalypse is here to stay, I think it could use a comma after it to set off a frayed leash.