Hushed Humanity

What silenced the world?

What evil quieted humanity?

What terror obliterated the sun

and muffled the melody of life?

What did that social media-obsessed

wealthy businessman-turned-politician

say or do to that dangerous commander

of a nuclear weapon-riddled nation?

Something he did cost humanity dearly,

sacrificed so many, initiated an attack

and caused the nuclear chemicals to

destroy our vibrant, beautiful blue planet.

The sky and earth became and remain

a dark tomb of ash like some

old abandoned house’s chimney,

where the crows slowly circle above,

barely flying, with wings bloodied

and eye sockets empty.

They and other birds like them

have been hushed; no longer do they

coo or caw; no cries escape their beaks.

And nothing else living above our

hidden underground shelter

makes any sound at all now.

There’s only four of us down here.

Only four souls wrapped in human tissue,

made up of skin, bones, and internal organs.

But without ears because ... what

is there to listen to now?

The universe is a silent ghost that

can’t even whisper in the dead of night.

And it’s frightening–

this graveyard of soundlessness.

There’s no person above ground to hear

the proverbial tree fall in the forest.

There are no living trees anymore either.

No leaves to rustle and murmur

in the blustery autumn wind.

Only dead air suspended, hanging.

No wild noises of nature,

twittering, howling, or barking.

There is only emptiness and sorrow

to listen to now.

Nothing other than our voices

and the grumbling of our

empty and sore stomachs.

Only the soot and smoke from

firestorms around the cities of this

changed world blankets the

scorched, blackened and muted earth.

The world has gone too quiet and

our muzzled lives are nothing but

a screaming agony of sad silence.