You Draw Your Own Conclusion

It’s not just that something’s coming.
Something’s always coming, something
Always vanishing, forgotten.

It’s how much a something’s coming,
And what will come after it, and
Before long you’re thinking on scales

Of planetary disaster
Or utopic transformations,
When for you, for now, the problems

Are how long will your health hold out,
How long can you make the rent, how
Will you live if your old car dies?

Those are the questions that create
The hunger for Armageddon
In people who should know better

Than to wish for wish for shared disaster
Even while dreaming of winning
Some billion-dollar lottery.

Maybe AI will take over.
Maybe aliens will invade.
Maybe there’ll be revolution.

Maybe democracy will fall.
Maybe the next plague will break through
And devastate all continents.

Maybe petro-states will crater
When fusion provides free power.
Probably, you’ll just get cancer.