Once upon a time, man said to the universe, “Sir, I exist,”

And the universe replied, “However, the fact has not created in me any sense of obligation.”

Today, man says to the universe, “I exist, and I am entitled.

“I am entitled to shove my opinion so far down your throat that your soul still spits up its pieces in the afterlife.

“I am unique.  I am special, not insignificant, a king even, and everyone else my subject.  What I see, I own.”

And the universe responds, “I don’t give a shit.”

A black holes lies in wait as existence rotates in spirals,

Thoughtlessly engulfing all that comes near.

And as this black widow lies in wait for us, its eventual prey,

We unwittingly allow our own destruction by lying in wait.

Interest groups haggle over the small details of our demise,

Armageddon bought and paid for, date-stamped by a clerk who mindlessly records the deed,

Now forever memorialized.

Apocalypse does not stem from anarchy,

but from organized chaos.

Atoms fuse, creating the elements of the crime in an ever-so systematic fashion,

Also thoughtless.

So the crime is involuntary,

A 6-month sentence at best for the destruction of all.

For what man, what life, is entitled, so, too, is death.

The black widow’s web, by now, is thick,

And blindly, we are led to the silk-spun center.

And upon dead ears falls the sound of silence,

And the universe replied, “Finally!”

Copyright, 2010, Travis Knobbe, all rights reserved.