Gods

They walk the earth as gods
Flawed and omnipotent, the stuff of legend and myth
We watch the evolutionary leap, and foresee the death of a species
The changing of our world for better or worse
But not of our choice

The former tenants, welcome to stay until inconvenient
Who gives whom the right?
When the meteor strikes, will they stand by and watch?
And why should they not?
For the bell does not toll for them

We’ve squandered our treasures and powers
Our time and our dominance
Caretakers was never a role we took seriously
And the house now burns down around our ears
While prayers remain unanswered

Maybe answered in the only way possible
With a “no”
With a hurry up and die
With empathy, but not for us
“My gods, my gods, why hast thou forsaken us”

We promised you nothing
We owe you nothing
Just to be better than you
To be responsible and true…
…To ourselves

Our worship of them in history, book, and film
Was never enough for the reality
For the endgame of endgames
They may be better, but they were never to be what we’d hoped
Expectations also bite back

As our Tower of Babel crumbles
And we await the fate of the dispossessed
A culture of ash, paper, and plastic
Lies under our knees and bowed heads
A reshaping not in our image

Now we have become death
The destroyer of worlds destroyed
A suitably short tenure and experiment
As gods walk the earth
But not amongst us.