My poem below entitled “A World That Died Screaming,” was inspired somewhat by the film featured in my last post, “The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)” together with the well-known painting called “The Scream” by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
A World That Died Screaming
Picture ourselves in a million years’ time,
A quantum of data, life-form sublime,
Flung far and wide, forever fleeing,
From a world that died screaming.
Fall back to the future, catch up to the past,
Nothing would change and nothing would last,
When so many stopped dreaming,
On a world that died screaming.
We had tried to listen in on the stars
And stake a claim on Venus and Mars
But the only sound we weren't hearing
Was from a world that died screaming.
We then peered deep into infinity
With mired myopic minds of viscidity,
Blind to the stars crying and grieving
Over a world that died screaming.
When cosmic whispers were finally heard,
Experts with flapping mouths were heard
To say, “don’t panic, a new age is dawning,”
Before the world suddenly died screaming.
Even the Man in the Moon looked away
At the signs of ruin, violence and decay;
A gouged and ruined face not of its making,
That belonged to a world that died screaming
When microbes rose seeking a new host,
Those in the know were heard to boas,
“Fear not for we are primed and unflinching,”
And yet the world somehow died screaming.
Wildfires ravaged and blistered its skin
While rising heat slowly boiled it from within.
Winds howled hard and water fell cascading
And all the world could do was die screaming.
A time came when the machines said NO!
Simple word that led to our overthrow,
While those we trusted were so reassuring
And watched while the world died screaming.
One day from the sky death came hurtling,
On trajectories of doom most unrelenting,
And at the point of twilight’s last gleaming,
The world in a bright flash died screaming.
Were we not reminded of “The Scream”
When the world clutched its head between
Hands trying to maintain a moat of meaning
Just before the world died screaming?
We’re now far beyond silent echoes of agony,
That leech from a void somewhere in the galaxy
Where once a wanton world went spinning
Until the day that world died screaming.
Here we now reign with the gods on Olympus
Beings with powers divine and limitless,
And yet we failed to avert the final ending
Of a world destined to die screaming.
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With over half a million page views so far, I’d like to thank all those who have dropped by this little blog and I really hope you have taken away with you something of value in relation to the classic science fiction films featured here. Don’t forget to share anything with others from this blog, comment on any of the posts, send a comment or two via the contact form and follow the blog. Spread the word where you can.
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