One Day You’ll Wake

One day you’ll wake,

And it’ll all be gone.

You’ll feel like either you,

Or the world,

Has become alien.

 

Flags will still wave

On the tops of their poles,

Like patriotic cocktail decorations

For giants.

They’ll mean nothing though,

By then.

 

Selfies, politics, cats,

And disasters

Will continue to roll through your

Feeds,

But for once you’ll have lost

Your appetite.

 

The stores will be open,

People will have barbeques

And Super Bowl parties,

But they’ll have nothing,

Not really.

 

It’ll happen,

In time,

To most of you,

You’ll wake to see this

Stark truth,

But by then it will be

Too late,

If it isn’t already.

 

You’ll tear your hair out

Wondering how.

How could we have all

Let this happen?

 

But we will,

We did,

And we are,

Because even when we

Allow ourselves

To think of it,

We don’t think very far,

To what “can’t be”

Because it’s just

Too bad,

But somehow

Still is.

 

The end won’t come

Announced on CNN,

The New York Times,

Or the Huffington post.

They’ll still be shouting

Their warnings

Unaware.

 

The media will be

Frozen,

Stuck in a traumatic repetition

Of their warnings,

Unable to accept

That they were ignored,

While ignoring the nightmare

That surrounds them.

 

You’ll see.

It’ll all be gone.

Everything that matters,

Everything needed to

Sustain our humanity,

Will just be

Gone.

 

But you’ll still be here.

Awake.

Aware.

Maybe that’s

The worst part of all.

 

12-17-2018