A familiar face made pale
Propped at an anchor desk
Of the evening news, just in.
The world will end. Choking the tears,
she continues her report. This woman
given the task, of given the single most
important story of her lifetime. We are told
the words we humans would like
to deny. We always thought
"This can't happen to us,"
Crosses everyone's mind
Like the worlds biggest game of Telephone.
Goodbye pain.
Goodbye suffering.
Hello freedom, freedom from
Bill collectors, credit card debt, and mortgage rates.
Me?
I see the end of the world, nothing else.
Acceptance, my anti-looting/anti-killing drug.
Another hour, my eyes transfixed on
the news reports of
Rioting, looting, fights, massacres, orgies, and ritualistics suicides.
The Permission Slip
To the end-of-the-world-gone-crazy field trip.
Your parents must have signed it for you a long time ago.
Goodbye third world hunger.
Goodbye Big Macs, Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese, and the Grande Meal.
"Hello," I say to a potential beginning.
I prepare for this. The only thing
I have ever prepared for.
A smile on my face as I drive, I drive
a few hours, I say goodbye, I make love,
and I get to the end.
Like taking a long walk
Off a short pier, my drive leads me to the ocean.
Where golden sand sticks to my shirt as I lay
down, for the rest of my life. Eternal Sleep.
Arms cradled under my head, like the arms of sunglasses
folded together.
I make pictures in the clouds and I wait.
I wait with the ones I love.
Staring at the clouds, the sun shines
one more brilliant flash
before burning out. Like a singular candle
Saying "Goodnight World."
Author notes
Just some random things I have always thought about in reference to the end of the world.
A contest entry
- [it's the end of the world.] by -foreverandever.
535 points, ended February 27, 2007, 16 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
How serene. I like the bit about the permission slip, and the mass suicides, orgies, rioting. It seems like a viable prediction... anyways. Great.
-
ohh
this is very, very powerful.
i love how you've included the chaos of denial and of having no reason to think of the consequences anymore, which might make people do things out of the ordinary - i don't think that's something many would consider.
'Where golden sand sticks to my shirt as I lay
down, for the rest of my life. Eternal Sleep.
Arms cradled under my head, like the arms of sunglasses
folded together.
I make pictures in the clouds and I wait.'
- that is such a beautiful image.
thank you for entering
& good luck
♥ -
Wow, I really like this, it's like Goodnight Moon, but from an adult perspective. Very nice!
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