If you have pored over Revelation,
nothing subtle there.
Destruction on every level,
unprecedented pain and suffering.
The one world government begats
the great world war begats
inflation and famine begats
a mighty earthquake, hide under rocks
begats a third of trees and grass burns up
begats blood rains down begats
a mountain of sulphur falls in the sea
begats the Star Wormwood,
bitters the sea
begats a diminished sun, moon, stars,
brings ever darkness begats
scorpions and locusts cause men
to plead for death begats
the Vial Judgments,
as God destroys all human systems,
ends Babylon in agony.
Maybe instead of a cataclysm,
a spectacular, big bang disaster,
the Tribulation is now,
happening before my very eyes,
day by night?
Daily I see the cracks,
shootings, bombings,
violence everywhere,
environmental fires,
collapsing ice bergs,
nuclear warheads bristling,
pandemics raging against the bit,
refugees aswarm
as nation warring against nation
becomes every nation,
kings more insane,
the rich so far above
the unseen poor,
a mist at the foot
of their mountain strongholds.
For myself, a privileged one,
a first world denizen,
so much good still:
An unruffled life:
Family vacations,
celebrate birthdays,
root for my teams,
my wife plants her garden,
new marriages, new babies.
I get up in the morning,
brush my teeth,
sleep tired.
So much good.
I go though my daily life,
not knowing what to do,
cluck my tongue more and more
as the news accosts me,
like the Marathon runner
daily falling exhausted at my feet,
as he reports event after event.
Toffler warned us
Media unleashed would
overwhelm us,
an impending sense of doom,
a feeling the other shoe
of the world will drop.
The evil increases.
During Covid.
I can feel it
as the Tribulation
drips, drips,
a rivulet, a stream,
a river, an ocean,
tsunami without end,
man clawing at himself
in abject fear,
clutching at what
will not hold still.
Originally published in Poetry and Covid