I thought the world had ended
when the fires started or even before, when the enemy
Landed on our shores, and dragons swooped in
Overhead, and set the felled forests alight.
Violence abounded,
Exploded in the streets, along with the bombs and the mines
that overnight
Yesterday’s aliens had planted, and
Of course the air was filled with screams,
Unloading bullets and dying dreams.

If that was not the end, I thought, then surely
it may have been when
Later when the dead came
Out from their graves, like ants from a hill, as zombies, ghouls, and
Vampires too, with appetites to whet. (Though admittedly those weren’t much of a threat.)
Even the moon became red and full
and then
Yes the werewolves emerged and we found half
Of our society moonlighted (excuse the pun) as beasts
Undead and insatiable, and beginning their feasts.

In due time a fiery meteor set the angry waters aflame
and all the sea monsters emerged in fury
Leviathan began to wrestle with the Kraken atop what was once New York.
Obviously this was before the tsunami, which caused the earth to
Vanish like Atlantis, speaking of which, was
Evidently starting to rise now,
and apparently
Years and years of isolation had driven its inhabitants mad and
Onto our broken world they began to slither and crawl
Until the Mothership arrived and crushed them all.

I thought for sure the world had ended
when the media died.
Lovecraftian horrors (who were by my window) could never compete with our
Own seemingly indestructible monsters. Which were now dead.
Vultures killed from gorging, I suppose. (Though our computers still uprose.)
End of days, end of days,
the people cried:
Yog-Sothoth, Quetzal, Jupiter, anyone help we’ve
Opened Pandora’s Box again but there is no hope. And some cried ‘Apocalypse!’ and some cried ‘Rapture!’
Unloved, the cameras shut off: there were no more scenes to capture.

Infested with mutant locusts and
peppered by hail and shrapnel.
Loud was the thunder, and the earthquakes, but I couldn’t hear
Over the rumble of tanks and
Variety of impatient demons
Escape was impossible; we were trapped
by cosmic horrors with quotas half-full.
Yet we continued to fight, although nuclear winter was cold and
October seemed so far away; was it really only a month before when I
Unwittingly lamented yesterday? I don’t remember anymore:



they said at the end birds would still sing



they said at the end the skies would be blue



except I never got to find out because

I thought my world had ended
already, died premature,
Long before it could begin.
O my life, how you had been forfeit and so
Virtually I was dead for years. (Wasting breaths and time and tears.)I sat at the
Edge of my seat, awaiting the
final curtain, seeing we were mere
Yards away from Heaven, or Hell
Or Olympus, or Hades, or whatever other side the
Universe had kindly lied to me to say we went after we died




or maybe there was nothing,




or maybe it would have been true




except I never got to find out because

And then suddenly, you.