Reflections

We thought our uniqueness would soar
Over other life forevermore;
But we’ll lose that distinction
In the Sixth Great Extinction
Which never has happened before.

               *          *          *

It gets harder to use straight denying
That we’ll starve, or perhaps end up frying;
But as life goes awry,
We can still give a try
To laugh till we can’t keep from crying.

               *          *          *

Our high evolutionary berth
Came about ‘cause our heads had great girth;
Still, our feelings transcend,
So this is the end
Of intelligent life on earth.

               *          *          *

Peak oil means collapse for sure,

Which some primitive tribes might endure;
But add on the heat,
And then nothing to eat—
There’s absolutely no cure.

               *          *          *

By not seeing all life’s brutality,
We evolved better functionality,
Making horrors you see
Inside you and me
Not cynicism, but reality.

               *          *          *

In order to eat, you compete,
Foster trust, then unfairly mistreat;
Act real kind when you greet
Folks you meet on the street,
But survival works best if you cheat.

               *          *          *

Who cares if it’s law of the nation?
The people who rule by predation
Will corner their prey,
And then simply say:
“We don’t need no stinking legislation.”

               *          *          *

Like chicken or rare roast beef,
Whether garnished with booze or with kief,
In the cannibal game
We’ll all taste much the same
Regardless of hue or belief.

               *          *          *

We’ve done things we cannot undo
Where other smart things also grew;
No habeus corpus
For dolphin or porpoise—
We’ll be the death of them too. 

               *          *          *

It’s the end of the whole human race,
We soon won’t leave even a trace;
The earth will erase
Every work and embrace
When we’re gone from the vastness of space.

               *          *          *

There’s nothing like experience, they say,
And wallowing in doom every day
Makes us more accepting
Of what we’re expecting,
Or, some would say, way too blasé.

               *          *          *

We must have evolved to hope—
Survivors didn’t sit around and mope;
While hope helped folks cope
Through many a downslope,
What’s coming is larger in scope. 

               *          *          *

At what point do we know to commit
To a world unlike what we’ve just quit?
Though the future is blurry,
On this point, don’t worry:
It happens by itself, bit by bit.

               *          *          *

Where to be, is where you accept
That for saving ourselves we’re inept;
As to what you should be,
Many here will agree
That by now you should be pretty much prepped.

               *          *          *

We can argue about when and how
The time will come for our last bow;
Our clock’s final chime
Could come any time—
So I ask: are you ready right now?