I Fear a Cruel World

I fear a lonely world
Where few, if any, survive to care
and they know they're the last of their kind
A dark and doomed world
a land of loss and solitude
scarred by the last painful moments of vanished masses

I fear a pestilent planet
Where sickness and decay touch every inch
and health, longevity are but dreams
A cursed, hopeless world
a land of the walking dead
of loathing, anguish, stricken lamentation

I fear a planet empty of compassion
Where mercy and sacrifice are extinct
and competition reigns supreme
A bleak and loveless world,
a land of harsh hierarchies,
allegiances, feuds and tyrant-rule

I fear an intellectual dark age
Where much of the former things are forgotten forever
and all but the barest bastions of art have died
A stark and tasteless world
a land of dull barbarians
No songbirds in the sky, no poets in our midst

I fear a nihilist's paradise
Where atrocity and apathy are the order of the day
and meaningless millions wander without hearts
A cruel and joyless world
a land of soulless drones
desiring only numbness and escape

I fear, I fear, I fear...

Oh, I fear a dreadful world
Where today's tragedies are tomorrow's norms
And woe to us who might see those days
And woe, oh woe to the children of that time
when mankind wishes never to have been born,
desiring only numbness and escape!

Mentors, teachers, leaders, I entreat, don't bid that time come
My peers, comrades, strangers, I beseech, don't see that time come
Children, our successors, I beg you, don't let that time come

Cooperate, forgive, plant, sustain, philosophize, empathize, synthesize, sympathize, cry, create, love- do what you must! Do what you must to keep dystopia at bay!

Oh, I fear a dreadful world
I fear a lonely world
I fear a pestilent planet
I fear a planet empty of compassion
I fear an intellectual dark age
I fear a nihilist's paradise
I fear, I fear a whole host of horrors!

And woe to us who might see those days
And woe, oh woe to the children of that time

Oh, I fear an awful world!