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.
S.C. Flynn was born in a small town in Australia of Irish origin and now lives in Dublin. His poetry has been published in more than a hundred magazines in more than ten countries. His forthcoming collections are “The Colour of Extinction” (Renard Press, October 2024) and “An Ocean Called Hope” (Downingfield Press, May 2025).
More work by S.C. Flynn
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