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The Cities Below

The congregations have filth to eat.
The future arrives:
The air is thick with sulfur,
Heat melts the asphalt and tar,
The river beds are hot as coals,
Streets flood with poison waters,
Ice caps melt and forests burn,
And quickly the planet takes new shape.

The angel of death does not pass the righteous
Who have smeared blood on their doors.
With nowhere to escape but underground,
Throats are seized by Armageddon-
There is no call from the glorious creator-
"Thou shalt preserve the primal land."

The digging has begun.
The crust of the earth is deep.

Last few words: 
a revised version of a recent post, and now the subject of the contest.
Editing stage: 
Contest: 

Comments

Very biblical sense.. and not far off from what the future could easily turn into.
Our armageddon will be our own doing, in which most will suffer.
It's sad for the children being brought up in this world.
Were already seeing it with irreversible changes and the puppet leaders of the world.
The line - "The angel of death does not pass the righteous
Who have smeared blood on their doors." really packs a punch.
I remember reading some part of the bible when I was younger,
and those that survived did exactly that. Moses era
The passover to a "new world", metaphorically underground.
Good read! and looking forward to the subtle revision.
The only things I would personally change are the ending lines.

- BJ

"There is no way to peace, peace is the way."

Thanks for your comment. The reference is to Exodus, the final plague. The tribe of israel who smear the blood of the lamb on their doors will be spared the angel of death which kills the first born son of all Egyptians under the evil Pharaoh.
The last two lines refer to the title, and the reference of the future living underground....the surface the earth will be unlivable. Science fiction will become reality. The glorious creator left us no Plan B.
..

Eumolpus
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance
ee cummings

author comment

Ahhh thanks for the clarity.
It was reminding me of hollywood's version of the tale.
'The last pharaoh' which i definitely watched as a kid.
And indeed, there is no plan B. Only the here and now.

BJ

love this. especially the first two lines in second stanza. i have always been interested in ancient religion and in ancient egypt. loved the vivid descriptions, too. good luck to you too in the competition

Please put (Sept. contest) next to title.Your poem clearly shows a worst case vision of a run away greenhouse effect. Alas going underground would not save us . Hopefully the thing the U.S. has already begun putting into place will be mimicked by the rest of the world. Even if climate change winds up being part of a natural cycle we need oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels for better uses than driving cars.....

and sulfur
smells pungent
like rotting garbage ''
so do many cities
except where we live
Canada is sweet

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