New shoots appearing through the charred bark of a Peppermint Gum;the rebirth of the Victorian forests after the bushfires.
Regrowth
When the last human
Crawls into his cave to die –
Will he be missed?
Will anyone wonder why?
Why was his reign so short,
Compared to the dinosaurs?
Why did he have to fight
So many pointless wars?
Why did he harness nature
Then systematically abuse it?
Why did he evolve a brain
If he didn’t intend to use it?
No, he wont be missed
But most of the living things.
He was just another failure
In the broader scheme of things.
Despite the ills he left behind
The planet will rebirth;
With the cockroaches in control
It wont be the end of the earth.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery
---
As always, brilliant.
ReplyDeleteYou are brilliant.
You are wrong though, the last man will stamp on the last cockroach. Hamsters will then rule the earth.
well, I love the poem, and, as a fair mathemetician have to add that the mo. stoneskin theory is a million cockroaches shy (there's a lot of them) (as in, a lot of them) but still, haven't we always known that one day it will be shy of humans...but, they'll still be some?
ReplyDeleteI like to think that vision we all see somewhere in our hearts, somewhere deeply set back (because it scares us) is how it'll turn out.
And, hopefully, we will be better. Will be respectful.
At least, that's what this old romantic sees.
Course, on the less serious side, when I saw the little picture of your new post, I thought on the way over it was a sailling boat on the seas and the thing was vertical instead of horizontal.
Kind'a like,
"Oh no! The world IS flat! We're falling!"
i'm trying to envision cockroach artists drawing the nude cockroach ..
ReplyDeletei'm trying to envision cockroach politicians enforcing 'only one cockroach birth per cockroach ... well, however they live together ..
i'm trying to envision a cockroach
poet writing: ..
When the last cockroach
Crawls into his cave to die –
Will he be missed?
Will anyone wonder why?
eh .. maybe i should stop envisioning and finish my wine instead ..
oops .. drats .. my glass is empty ..
Love the poem but I hate cockroaches, grew up in San Diego and we had them all the time. I really like the picture I was looking at in upside down trying to figure it out (not completely upside down because that would be nearly impossible for me) and then I read the caption.
ReplyDeleteUmm....I love a cheery poem!!! haha
ReplyDeleteShall we stop worrying about global warming and just get on with it! LOL
Love the poem, quite dark, quite sad. I never read poetry until I found your website. By the way, that photo is incredible - poignant.
ReplyDeleteIgnore her, she's just trying to be deep. She won't get away with it. She's much too blonde.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! And cockroaches rock! I've always been fond of them after reading Don Marquis' Archy and Mehitabel... (Archy is a cockroach with the soul of a poet and Mehitabel is an alley cat who claims she was once Cleopatra)...
ReplyDeleteAmazing the way gum trees do that.
ReplyDeleteShould I start being kinder to my cockroaches?
Thoughtful poem. Well done.
ReplyDelete"Why did he harness nature
Then systematically abuse it?
Why did he evolve a brain
If he didn’t intend to use it?"
Probing questions... no good answers. Not fond of cockroaches either.
Yuck... if roaches take over, I'd happily be extinct. Nasty little creatures...
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of regrowth though. Excellent picture, too.
All was well until we got to the cockroach. I just hate bugs. Hate 'em. I'm such a sissy.
ReplyDelete(don't tell anyone)
This was brilliant. And, sadly, way too true.
ReplyDeleteThe real kings of earth
ReplyDeletewith scurrying feet encroach
And we all, scared, approach
The dreaded day of the roach:
life then life - rebirth!