Lullaby for the Second Millennium

From the point of view of all time,

these recent changes signal

more a return to nature

than a departure, than degradation.

In the beginning, after all,

there was boiling rock.

Then waters arranging their bodies

around an era of softer forms:

lichen, grassland, swaying treetops.

Then creatures, movingly fleshed,

treading pathways that hardened.

Then pavement hardening

and cities, monumental.

Soon mostly rock again,

and radiant. More and more like moon.

Soon, sooner than is being thought,

there will be even more light.

The creatures will have stopped

being able to move

or be moved.

And the rock will boil.