Of "I Saw the Dead"

In the corner of a waterlogged, rusty room, I saw the dead.
I don't mean to say I saw a corpse
but in his eyes was the deadest, most barren cry of futility
that ever I saw.
It was strange
to find the dead in the midst of a dead place
all covered in gashes and brownfield waste
with lice so thick they were a wig.
It was strange
because the setting was too perfect
too overflowing with barrels and chicken feathers and mice that cried of abandon.
But the most dead thing about him
was his absence of life, in one so young
who without the lice and tatters and brownfield waste could easily
pass as a living thing
there was a discomfort in seeing dead brown eyes
brown like all the rest of him, certainly
but brown where there should have been light.
Yes, there is no doubt he was dead
because he'd lost the will to live.