“And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain…”
How prophetic with this melody
the crooner Frank Sinatra sounds.
It looks as if in a billion years
the heat from the Sun will be so intense,
that the oceans start to evaporate
and no human beings will be around.
The microbes will last a bit longer,
give or take a billion years or two,
then they too will eventually vanish
and the Earth will be devoid of life.
That the extremophiles are stronger
and more resilient than even Superman
is a cause for concern to us mortals
always trying to overcome our strife.
Against the Sun’s rays there’s no shield
and I can’t see what defence we can build
if the flaming star becomes much hotter.
We’d be left with our backs to the wall.
I wouldn’t call it a level-playing field
when tiny organisms have the advantage
and will outlive the rest by a long chalk.
It’d be fairer if the curtain fell for us all.
© Luigi Pagano
Microbes to be 'last survivors' on future Earth
Luigi Pagano is a contributor to Poetry24 and other websites. http://luigipagano.wix.com/poetry
