Delayed Judgement

The cumulo-nimbus clouds crept up

From the South, preceding the dawn,

Under the cloak of darkness they

Arrived as the day was born,

The sun peered over the rim of the earth

And beamed its rays to the clouds,

While we of the feckless, reckless earth

Buried our dead in shrouds.

 

We buried our heads in the sand, I said

From the wars that nobody won,

But battered our ideologies

In the face of each daughter and son,

Though the right were wrong and the wrong were wrong

When the end was written in blood,

Just as the choices of man have bled

Since the seasons before the flood.

 

The clouds crept up on that terrible day

When the world, with bated breath,

Looked up to the skies for a warning

Would it be life for the world, or death?

The end of the Mayan Calendar

Fell due on that fateful day,

We felt the Mayans foretold the end,

The earth was passing away.

 

The sun beamed out of the cumulus cloud

That was drifting across the earth,

When a host that shone like a silver ray

Appeared like a miracle birth,

They lined the cloud, a million strong

Were seen by the weak and the bold,

And one shone brighter than all the rest

In a garment of purple and gold.

 

‘He’s come again, for the second time,’

We cried in our shock and awe,

‘The Judgement is nearly upon us,’ cried some,

‘You know what that means, it’s war!’

Some of us stood with our arms held high,

While others hid under a rock,

And then the barrages, into the sky,

Began, and they wouldn’t stop.

 

We watched as the rockets rose on high

And the planes took off like gnats,

Missiles and shells from the military fell

From the skies, in their futile attacks,

The Host of the Lord gazed down from the clouds

Untouched; we thought he’d escape,

Then one with a nuclear head went up

And the clouds became mushroom shaped.

 

‘The world has survived’ was the common excuse,

‘Mankind has a second chance,

Anything rather than Judgement,’ they said

Went back to their warlike plans,

While those with still a religious bent

Expectantly waited for Him,

They’ve murdered him twice, but still they rejoice

While awaiting the ‘Third Coming.’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Mockingbird]

very apocalyptic imagery. it's like the propaganda those doomsday people preach. i agree there will always be war, and that it is hubris for man to think he could conquer the host with his weapons of mass destruction. i say, 'dear lord, protect me from your followers.'

[Barbara Walker]

WOW!

[Revolutionary]

lets hope this isn't true.lets hope the yidish are right.Great as usual I love all your work I read your poems first because they are so good.Keep um comin

[Randolf Ramos]

How sad it is to see the world in such darkness.

[Pure Hope]

This is awesome, powerful and gripping.
I fear for the world. Thank you for putting it into words. ~j

[de_maruf]

fine

[Hawkmoon]

Nostradamus says the world ends in 3797. I think the book of Revelation is actually Christ's description of :something: he experienced in Africa. Great write, with a novel and surprise ending! :)