[The following collected verses were originally posted in other places.] 

ACCEPTANCE

 

There’s not too much longer to wait:

You and I, who’re accepting our fate,

Know it’s over—we’re through;

Let our talk then be true, 

For the hour is now getting late.

 

We’re running into a glitch,

So I hope to learn what I can ditch: 

Accept things I can’t change,

Those I can, rearrange, 

And the wisdom to know which is which.

 

If I were to guess where we went

When we go through our final descent:

Acceptance, full scope, 

With the loss of all hope 

Is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

 

It won’t matter, whatever you do,

But accepting that doom’s really true—

And there’s nowhere to flee

From the NTHE—

Will alter your whole point of view. 

 

Doom’s going be bad, m’kay?

But it’s natural growth and decay;

So relax and accept,

And try to get prepped,

‘Cause it’s not going to go away.

 

It's the end of the sapiens' age,  

So how will we disengage:

Recognizing the trend

And accepting the end,

Or stuck in the bargaining stage? 

 

If the climate change has evolved 

To a problem your mind wants resolved; 

Cognitive dissonance

Becomes less intense

By accepting it cannot be solved. 

 

Doom’s coming, what should I do?

Do the math, let it in, get a clue,

Get it into your head

We’ll all soon be dead,

Accept that it’s over—we’re through.

 

No future means we must deal

With so many things doom will reveal,

But NTHE 

Means you no longer flee 

Or fight with accepting what’s real.

 

Between different worlds we are swept

While we get mentally prepped;

This weird disconnect

Is what to expect

Cause extinction’s so hard to accept.

 

Fate’s something we can’t wish away:

Atoms bounce as they must and don’t stray;

We protest or accept

While we’re getting prepped,

But we don’t get to have any say.

 

Even if physically prepped,

And with skills at which one is adept,

The outlook’s so bleak,

It will make people freak,

So doom takes awhile to accept.

 

Brain neural pathways require

Certain stimuli to rewire;

Accept that chem preps

Have rate limiting steps,

And each one takes time to transpire.

 

Accept we’re material dust

In a world neither just nor unjust;

What happens each day

Can be no other way

Because molecules move as they must. 

 

Studying nature explains

The uselessness of our campaigns;

When no fix is left,

We’re completely bereft,

And only acceptance remains.

 

When we’ve conquered much of our fear,

And accepted the ending is near;

We’ve taken big steps, 

But aside from our preps,

Where do we go from here?

 

Kubler-Ross’s “Five Stages of Grief”

Provides framework that’s simple and brief;

As far as I see,

Acceptance will be

As good as it gets for relief. 

 

Most common, of course, is denial,

For anger, we all can see bile; 

A bargaining style,

Some depression awhile,

And acceptance completes our trial.

 

You know preps will prove ineffective,

And also, that lots of invective

Will be coming your way

If you choose to display

A post-acceptance perspective.

 

In our world of limits, we rue

Things we did and what we didn’t do;

We'll feel better prepped

The more we accept

The limits inside of us too.

 

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 largely prepped.

 

The view of what’s coming’s less blurry,

So we cut down on hurry and scurry;

Having looked at our fear,

Acceptance draws near—

And with it, a time of less worry.

 

A progress evaluation 

Might reflect some good adaptation; 

In making that link,

I’d much rather think

It’s acceptance, and not resignation. 

 

We learned a lot during our climb,

Since first we crawled out of the slime;

Now it seems, reader friend,

That accepting our end

Is the main lesson for our time.

 

Because we’re no smarter than yeast,

It turns out we’ll soon be deceased;

Being old makes one prepped

To more promptly accept:

Any day now, we shall be released.

 

I’m working real hard to create

A way of accepting our fate;

Pursuing that stuff

Prob’ly won’t help enough,

But it’s something to do while we wait.

 

I sit on this runaway train

Watching the passing terrain;

There’s not much I can do

But accept doom is true,

And wait for the end of the pain. 

 

Writing is mostly my way

Of coming to terms with dismay,

So the more I accept

And get mentally prepped,

The less, it seems, I’ve got to say. 

 

In the course of becoming awake, 

We find things we cannot remake; 

Accept, from the trend, 

That the world’s going to end,

And the rest’s just a mere piece of cake. 

 

Acceptance allows us to strike

Discomfort from out of our psych;

It’s easy to do

For me and for you—

Except for the things we don’t like. 

 

Here’s a truth which we can’t disavow: 

In the end, life is no cat’s meow;

It’s getting quite late

For accepting our fate—

Let me know if you figure out how.