The End Poem by Richard D Remler

*****



The end
Came without
Banners waving,
Effigies burning,
Towers falling.

Old men went
To sleep early,
And did not set
Their alarm clocks.

Grumbling Police Officers
Wrote no more tickets,
And arrested
No more felons.

Casinos turned off
All their glittering lights,
And stages dimmed.

The young men dreamed
No lasting dreams,

And the Markets closed early.

Not a single Lottery Ticket
Was sold...

Churches set out signs
On their front lawns
And in their
Marques that read:
"Vacant...
Abandoned..."


And the Governments
Collected no more taxes.

Fire Houses disconnected
Their Alarms,
And let the air
Out of all their tires.

Children said their short
Prayers and huddled in the dark
Until the blowing sand and empty silence
Carried them all away...

...and a great silence fell.

Copyright © MMVII Richard D. Remler