After

Day One

The bomb when it fell sent the planet to hell 
With unrestrained retaliation 
The damage was done and the end had begun
With no hope of human salvation

I woke with a scream from that God awful dream
And took my wife into my arms 
My thoughts were of lust but she crumbled to dust
And she didn’t respond to my charms
_____
Week Two The landscape is stark for the ash cloud is dark And the grass doesn’t grow any more Few creatures can feast since the fire from the east Made nothing as good as before Then came acid rain, that again and again Burned our skin til it was raw But if there’s an upside, we now can go outside The rain doesn’t burn anymore
_____
Year Three The sidewalks I walked, where good neighbours talked Are tangled with undergrowth, new Those neighbours are gone but the heat lingers on In an atmosphere no longer blue The place that we once called ‘The city’ Is now thick with ferns, shrubs and trees As I made a sound, a deer stood its ground For nowadays no beast ever flees From what I can see, he eats better than me My nutrition comes out of a can This jungle now covers this land, sea to sea And nothing is scared of a man
_____
Year Ten Surviving the blast gave the old man a laugh Until the the Big C hit his bones His loss has cut Earth’s population in half I buried him with the unknowns So now I’m the one to relate what was done And document how man survived An earnest presumption that soon came unspun Ash shadows cannot be revived
_____
Year Twenty Who might have guessed that the jabs in my chest Would go unattended by drugs My diet, I guess, would never impress As I eat mostly baked beans and bugs
_____
Year — who’s counting? So, this has been me; last man standing My journey and journal now done I leave this world to its rebranding A process that’s long since begun It seems I’ve been less than observant For with these last breaths I have seen That I, the last human, shall bid my farewell To a new world that’s vibrant and green
Copyright © | Year Posted 2024


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Date: 5/8/2024 3:56:00 PM
Terry, I have entertained many of these thoughts and concluded that mankind i a cancer on the face of the earth destined to destroy the very organisms it depends on for life. I read After "after' after reading After....made for an interesting evening.
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Terry Flood
Date: 5/8/2024 4:06:00 PM
I’d just love the chance to explain to an English teacher that “I read After ‘After’ after reading ‘After’” is not bad grammar! Glad you enjoyed, John. Terry
Date: 5/7/2024 10:48:00 AM
I have so many questions I want to ask you about some of these lines, but I'll not throw shadows over your fantastic, fatalistic verses. The world will survive man's stupidity... good wrap up, Terry.
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Terry Flood
Date: 5/7/2024 2:44:00 PM
No hidden messages, Lin. Just that final observation that once man is out of the way, the world will look after itself. Perhaps waking from a dream (nightmare) to find it was actually not a dream at all was not clearly depicted. Oops! Otherwise… a straightforward post apocalyptic’ ‘ditty’.
Date: 5/7/2024 10:17:00 AM
Excellent write Terry, I just hope that dream doesn't become a reality. We probably wouldn't know anything if it did. Tom
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Terry Flood
Date: 5/7/2024 2:47:00 PM
Thanks, Tom. Strangely, the experts seem to play down the global disaster that a nuke would cause… however, they don’t say much about the result of all the world’s nukes being used in one massive conflict. Glad you enjoyed. Terry
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