APOCALYPSE, NOW

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

The events in Athens still prey on my mind and they join other similar acts of violence and desperation around the globe that float in my brain like vultures. Humanity is becoming inhuman and we rush to our own destruction, like moths around a flame. My poem today was inspired by these fiery visions and is not a happy one…
Revelation

And then the beast awakens, stirs,
It shakes and bellows loud,
Yelps, cries, like a hundred curs;
And even if shielded by a shroud,
Its eyes still burn with fury bright.

The beast awakens and it crushes
All resistance; logic is slain.
Death in its wake; blood gushes,
Plague, famine, panic, bane
Will cause the loss of light.

Black scrawny birds of sorrow fly,
And shrieks of misery resound;
The beast is quick, draws nigh
With claws clutched all around
A bloody sword that’s black as night.

Its footsteps leave a wake of fire,
Pain, fear, agony, tears, doom.
Repentance too late, the hour dire,
The sun has died, all is a-gloom;
The earth has sickened in its plight.

The beast moves fast, destroys,
Its purpose deadly as was prophesied;
Chasms gape open, an infernal noise,
As earth is gashed, as cities subside,
And terror reigns wedded with fright.

The beast within us stirs, it wakes,
And years of calmness, reason, die.
The demon that’s inside of us, shakes,
Our civilised existence to defy.

How easy in a moment’s fury to annihilate,
What took a century or two to build.
We kill the angels, holy things do desecrate
All that is innocent and pure, is killed.

Fire, sulphur, tar, mire, brimstone, blight,
We’re tortured by the demons that we liberate.
Wisdom wiped out, light gives way to night,
Apocalypse comes from within, such is our fate.