If, Indeed, Anything’s Watching

What will become of you
People, you humans, once
You’ve done all facts allow?

Before you’re extinguished,
Before you’re extinct, what
Will you settle down to?

Will you simmer, cool off,
Or go supernova,
A cultural shock wave

Of AI and robots,
Probes and satellites launched
By weaponized rockets

To do what? Meander
In piddling arcs around
The local galaxy?

Maybe you’ll just have fun
With more religious wars,
Ethnonational storms,

Be no worse for the Earth
Than a chronic illness
That lingers, then breaks out,

Then fades but still lingers,
Until one day you’re past
Your last feverish burst.

Poor things. Poor us, your marks
And detritus. Poor Earth.
Lucky night, watching this.