Extinction
Earth was hot
Steaming through
cracks
Caked and dry.
Thirsty people
Looked hungrily at
the sky
Praying for rains
that never came
Children and
animals
Died like flies
Dumped in heaps
for all to see
No vultures came
to clean the debris
In the lofty
metropolis
Roads melted and
stuck to feet
And concrete
cooked those trapped inside matchbox houses
The urban jungle
became wilder:
Ferocious gangs of
ravenous scavengers
Brawled and
battled.
The city blazed.
More heat singed
into flesh already oppressed—
Pressed tight with no place to go.
Spiraling dust
lashed through the city
Flinging roofs and
trash-cans here and there
Like a child throwing a tantrum.
A mile-thick,
toxic brown haze hung over Earth
Like a shroud
And smothered
whatever life remained.
Poles shifted.
Ice melted.
Mountains
crumbled.
Flowers wilted.
Tides rose in all
the oceans.
Causing floods;
Cyclones and
tsunamis;
And the seas…
Rising and falling,
like water in a cauldron.
Hurricanes shook
even the doldrums.
EXTINCTION…
Trisha’s elbow
poked my side and
I heard Ms. Das’s
voice as if it came from far away:
“SRISHTI, WAKE UP
AND PAY ATTENTION!”
The sky was
bluish, not brown.
The sun was shining
and it was a cool January day.
I beamed at Ms.
Das and thought happily:
There’s still
time. It’s not too late.
Let’s make amends
and not tempt fate.
The sky’s still
blue; let’s keep it that way,
Let’s prevent the
apocalypse from striking today!
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