Through thickness of the leaves a ray of light
Shines happily upon the burial site.
A cold steel coffin cradles in its hearth
The last surviving man on Earth.
He dreams of faces he remembers not
The Noh masks floating on their very spot,
Of a woman’s kiss and of her gentle smile.
Who was she? It has been a while.
A while that has lasted generations.
He from afar observed how every single nation
Tore down its contender’s throat
Until no one was left afloat.
With nations gone; the chaos reigned.
The worst in worst emerged unchained.
Regimes and wars had bled lands dry.
The people's end was drawing nigh.
He watched them come and watched them go -
Myriads of faces that he had come to know.
How many hands he tightly held until
Their masters felt dark lady’s blissful chill?
Remembrance lives of children lulled to sleep
First steps they took toward their father’s keep.
The paper boats they’d sent together on the sailing.
He fetched the water when their legs were failing.
A peaceful smile lingered on the wrinkled face
Of child passing on in his embrace.
The grip was tight long after he was gone
That day he buried last surviving son.
In aftershock he searched without rest
Amidst the forlorn ruins calling out like obsessed.
He would have burnt the world to ash, if given choice,
To hear an echo of a human’s voice.
For days and days he called and found none.
The fates are crueler to those attempt to run
The restless chase of his, no fruit it bore
Leading him back to the haunted shore.
Adrift he floated through the memories of joy,
Like paper boat set sailing by the little boy.
The salty waters lapping at his feet
Brought onward the attacking paper fleet.
And now, nothing could have hurt him more
Than gentle breeze, waves crashing on the shore.
For what are worth the shores, the distant skies
If they are destined only for his eyes?
These empty views, these meaningless delights -
Four walls he chose to shelter from their blight.
In cold steel coffin dies away the harrowing scream.
Inside, he feels the souls long gone with him.
Where foliage forbids the rays to venture forth
The cold steel coffin cradles the last man on Earth.
A pathetic creature forced to strive,
Forever cursed to be alive.