Our world cascades in a waterfall of ash
and undone lives, our bodies
marionettes manipulated by merciless
puppeteers, our voices silenced by the specters
of history reincarnated to haunt
our present, our air sullied
by the dust of our insatiable greed.

It seems the proverbs and their prophecies
have proven true and nothing golden can prosper
in the barren fields of ignorance 
we showered with tainted rain.

We look ahead to days of tar-bled bleakness,
of a smoldering nightmare where the demons
we breed today thrive on abundant darkness
plucked from withering 
trees tomorrow.

Yet we can rise on phoenix
wings from the shambles of our smoke-
hazed heap and hurl our fiery blaze
into the endless night, letting our sparks
paint constellations of hope 
in the darkened sky, a bright sun shining
light into our beautiful future.

-inspired by Jeremiah 29:11