I used to gaze across a lake,
Nature’s beauty on display,
Yet it was infested with snakes,
A visage that lured prey.

Prey would always come,
Unaware of yonder peril,
Til’ something had to be done,
And the city rendered it sterile.

Nature’s tenants slain’d
Trees burned by fire,
The lake eventually drained,
To make way for man’s empire.

I watch the weeds grow,
Up through a cracked foundation,
I listen to the birds crow,
Cursing humanity’s damnation.

I tighten my mask,
And check my filter’s firm grasp,
Through my city I pass,
Hearing echoes of its last gasp,

Live and let be,
A thought long forgotten,
My parents used to tell me,
Before I walked a path downtrodden.

Nature always found a way,
And grew through the radiation,
Changed itself under a glowing ray,
A ray the led to man’s exacerbation.

I watched the empires war,
I lament the fate of kindred,
Whom the third sun tore,
Their souls from earth lifted,

Some would say,
It was the Horsemen’s reign,
To them nay,
It’s just another day.