S.C. Flynn

Under a sky the colour of extinction

you choose your own conclusion.

The Earth might have already done so:

somewhere in its whirling mass of DNA

and infinite genetic possibilities

is the clue to what will replace us.

Perhaps an existing creature will evolve,

switching on latent capabilities

that have lain dormant for millennia,

or the distant descendants of extremophiles

currently clustered around hypothermal vents

and suspended from the roofs of caves

will develop in unimaginable ways.

But then again, maybe once is enough

and the world will embrace equality

with no striding master or dictator

and ten thousand years of civilisation

will shrink to an unrepeated moment.