The End Is Nigh

The man with the sandwich-board said
that the end of the world was nigh.
We laughed and scoffed at this bloke
who clearly was losing his marbles,
befuddled by alcohol and drugs
- cheap plonk, amphetamine, coke.
What a dope! As if we would
give up hope on our planet's resilience.
How long had the earth survived?
Millions and billions of years.
Then the scientists spoke up:
they warned us of melting icecaps,
of greenhouse gas and climate change.
Told us that man burns huge amounts
of fossil fuels and cuts down forests
that naturally absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
Nature joined in with tsunami, earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions to disrupt the eco system.
(As if the El Niño wasn’t enough to affect it.)
And yet mankind stood passive; did nothing
to prevent a catastrophe and a cataclysm.
Meekly accepting  that the end was inevitable
they began the final countdown to oblivion.

© Luigi Pagano 2015