2020
By: Pina Leyland
Trade war between US and China escalates
Western World economy crashes
Bankers throw themselves out of windows
As they have done since time immemorial
People wander the earth
Homeless and bedraggled
In search of food, shelter, clothing
Leaving a trail of useless i-things behind them
Men, women, children are starving
Grapes of wrath revisited
Borders become war zones
Rape, pillage and murder ensue
Sex and death, Death and sex
One follows the other
Stupid men with inflated egos
Leading us to the brink of ruin
Like giant cockroaches
Destroying the planet
It's the devil's work, the old woman mutters
God is punishing us for our sins
The seven deadly ones
Stupid men with enormous egos
Giant cockroaches destroying the planet
The end of the world is nigh
Apocalypse Now!
The old woman's daughter sits alone
In her flat, far away
Looking out to a raging sea
Estranged from husband and children
Loveless, joyless and forlorn
An unruly mane of grey curls
Frames her tired face
Irises, once azure, now turned grey also
Crinkly smile lines weighed down by bitter ones
Falling from the edges of her mouth
Her face tells no lies
The world is crumbling
Fires rage in the Amazon
Tsunamis wipe out villages
Superbugs feed on humans
We are mere bacteria on an agar plate, she mutters
Civilisations rise and fall
Cycle of life, survival of the fittest, blah, blah, blah
We are either the chicken or the egg
DNA replicating itself
That's all we're here for
Tiny cockroaches infest every nook and cranny
She drops an Insect Bomb
The scuttling stops
All is quiet
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