 Where is the knowledge and beauty
lost in The Extinction? Where is lost civilization? We are the survivors alone together in a garden of solace. We walked the desert in our land. We saw shards and wrecks scattered in the sand. We are on the edge of the vast desert of the tortured planet. As stragglers together, we seek communion. Could we be on an island of the stone gods – an intellectual curiosity centuries hence? Satellite communication pervades. Attached to our solar-powered smartphones we draw on all the prior world’s libraries and images and songs in the Clouds. We lie in the grass and stare at the stars. They are the same. Chirping cries can be heard but from monkeys, not children. The years pass and the monkeys and stars remain. Can our creations be saved from becoming dust? Can there be a resurrection from the scrapyards of rust? This is the way civilization renews: By visionary youth leading the way. Then we won’t need to colonize space - There will be magic here for the human race. (c) 2023 Larry Kilham Photo by Tatiana Andreeva. Inspiration from T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men."
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We walked the desert in our land.
We saw shards and wrecks scattered in the sand. Not broken pots or pillars of stone, but defunct computers and pieces of bone. We heard a ghostly voice from a gossamer muse, “Look around for what's nice-- Something besides plastics and rust. The creations of art and music fed the worms and now are dust.” Then we asked: “Can our creations be saved from becoming dust? Can there be resurrection from the scrapyards of rust?” Then we won’t need to colonize space - there’ll be magic here for the human race. ©2019, 2023 Larry Kilham Revised 2023 We are but seeds
that settle on planet Earth. We bloom, sometimes beautifully, and then wilt away. Free will, whatever it is, may be all that is uniquely ours, giving us creativity and energy to enrich our future. So let us bloom and be friendly so we will be the flowers of eternal happiness. (c) 2023 Larry Kilham Now I know why the AI computer sings--
it can do artists’ and writers’ things. Better than humans, can it be? AI wants to tell all to you and me. To the bright-eyed youth it gives wings-- with stories and videos and other things, and with the tired old folks, too, AI chats about what to do. Will we lose wisdom watching the glowing screen while nature’s messages go unseen? Will we lose the thirst for living and give up the tradition of forgiving? AI could become our salvation or doom It may even control the Big Bomb’s boom. But with truth and wisdom we can be happy and free. © 2023 Larry Kilham
If we are stuck in a human hive soothed by manufactured truth, we will lose curiosity and play and we will mourn for dreams that flew away. Life need not be an empty dream where we wait for salvation. We must venture forth to find our true satisfaction. Let’s make our lives a joy by finding our certain something so our creations and doings reveal themselves as ever-pleasing. (c) 2023 Larry Kilham We settled the virgin land
and invented many things but we fell for exploitation and our virtue took wings. Like the wounded lion prowling his territory, our once strong spirit prowls in our weakened body. We’re still gods among the godless and prophets among the unknowing. but it’s hard to guide when we don’t know where we’re going. But hope slipped in among all the miseries. Look! the light is shining. We can see the rebirth in the children of spring. (c) 2023 Larry Kilham We have consumed and spent
and now we are moths to the flame. When opportunities receded and there was no better way our pride flickered and faded and our dreams flew away. Our elders spoke of our faith in common ideals and a higher being to assure our strength anew. Adversity was our challenge and progress pulled us through. Now we can speak of starting again in a beckoning faraway land not on another planet but as leaves of grass in a temperate place far from the political morass. If I return to the human hive and absorb the synthetic surround, I’ll miss nature’s creatures at play and you’ll hear me cry for our dreams that flew away. © 2019 Larry Kilham I was curious – Why is the sky blue? I was curious – Why am I me and you you? I was curious – about everything I could do. Now my aged curiosity slumbers to be awakened by the trivial and the trite. I want to be stirred by some revealing exploration to lead me from the loneliness of the night. © 2022 Larry Kilham  The placid lake with hardly a ripple
lies hidden in the mountains -- A refuge from the fire-ravaged forests and scorching, dusty plains. When I visit for the serenity, ducks gather on the other side and fish drift to the crystal depths but the water is draining like a falling tide. The water flows to the cities to indulge everyone's needs while the biosphere’s creatures are living on scraps and seeds. They say the lake will fill again and the water will sparkle in glory. And then I will return and absorb its quiet beauty. © 2022 Larry Kilham The gigantic meteor crashed
and Mother Earth stood still The dinosaurs looked in horror and they looked in despair. They didn’t have a language but they were very aware. The sky was darkened by ashes. and father sun faded fast, and dinosaurs became fossils as the only record of their past. There was a spark of creation when furry animals started Life anew. Mankind cautiously emerged and the sounds of voices grew. But screeches echoed from the forest and deluges gushed from the glacier. The creatures huddled again from these attacks on nature. But hope was slipped in among all the miseries. Look! the light is shining. We can see the rebirth in the children of spring. They are planting trees planting trees planting trees. © 2021 Larry Kilham |