Story #20 - The Asteroid

A poem about fate.

Jet Lag. It’s a thing. I got back from my honeymoon on Friday, fully intending to finish this poem well before Saturday night, and instead my eyes have been swimming for 36 hours and I barely did anything. I’d forgotten how bad it could be! Anyway, that’s why this is here now instead of my usual 3 am delivery. The good news is, I feel halfway human again, and I’m married! :)

This poem comes from an idea suggested to me by my stepdad, Rico, a cool cat with a climate-focused podcast you should consider checking out. It’s called “The Green Elephant in the Room”. Rico has been talking about the importance of climate for longer than anyone else I know, give-or-take, and it turns out he was more or less dead right the whole time. Here’s a link:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-green-elephant-in-the-room-solutions-to/id1437845993

The idea evolved from his original suggestion, but I’m so glad he gave it to me, because it turned into what is probably my favorite story I’ve written so far for this project. Without further ado:

The Asteroid

The things which whirl and snap and pounce

These weigh a pound for every ounce

Of stuff that drifts and coasts and floats along

In human minds that which is near

And moves fast causes greater fear

Than that which while now slow may yet be strong

*

T’was such began the asteroid

That one day would leave Earth destroyed

So far away it was when it was found

The power of our telescopes

Exceeded all our wildest hopes

And saw it long before it came around

*

Five hundred eight times round the sun

Before the rock’s voyage was done

And it became the center of our world

But when it did it was a fact

The Earth would have no further act

And into blackness we would all be hurled

*

Yet those who lived when it was seen

Would long ago have fled the scene

Before the boulder slammed into our side

So it proved tempting then to shift

The conversation onto thrift

Though their descendants’ fate they much decried

*

The budgets and priorities

The needs of poor minorities

Could not be tossed aside to save the necks

Of generations far along

The melody of human song

No matter the regrettable effects

*

There were of course even back then

Those few who had within their ken

The essence of Cassandra of the Greeks

They said if we did not begin

To save our own collective skin

With all the known and yet unknown techniques

*

That very day then we were lost

And one day those who paid the cost

Would curse us all with tongues that turned to flame

Or spin out on their death embark

A nowhere journey through the dark

To carry forth a whisper of our shame

*

But those Cassandras’ words were not

Enough to move the world a jot

So that first generation lived and passed

The stone hurtled along its way

Towards our fiery tête-à-tête

But certain questions were no longer asked

*

In company politeness meant

Not discussing to what extent

The talkers should hold themselves to account

For sacrifices they’d not made

Or subtle ways they’d underplayed

This obstacle we one day must surmount

*

And thus they reached a rough détente

With acting somewhat nonchalant

Towards the fiery ball of solid rock

That just as sure as the sun rose

Would send us all to our repose

Four hundred eighty years left on the clock

*****

For fifty years then thirty more

We chose together to ignore

The ticking clock that daily counted off

Apocalypse so far removed

The population was unmoved 

And when the subject came up they would scoff

*

Many said it was all a lie

A government attempt to try

And gain a further measure of control

Some preachers long from pulpits spoke

As incense wreathed their eyes in smoke

And called it all a struggle for the soul

*

So there became not just a lack

Of caring but overt attack

On that which surely one day must be done

And those who saw with open eyes

With cynic’s wisdom did surmise

The battle t’was not fought could not be won

*

And so they called their fellows fools

A bunch of ghastly selfish ghouls

And tried to save the world without their aid

They put the call to every land

For any who could lend a hand

Millions joined their future-saving crusade

*

But those who did not believe yet

Refused believers calls to let

Their anti-asteroid project proceed

They changed the letter of the laws

Then made best use of every clause

And had their politicians intercede

*

A two-decade long stalemate

Ensued, until the random date

When earth had four hundred years left to spin

The asteroid was still afar

But closer than the closest star

And closer all the time to our chagrin

*

Round numbers do stick in the mind

That nice round date left some inclined

Who had denied now to support the cause

A hundred years having elapsed

The world began to think perhaps

T’was more important than they’d thought it was

*

Four hundred years were left to us

More dinner tables did discuss

The need to some day and somehow avert

The pain which otherwise would wait

On that distant but certain date

When the approaching rock became overt

*

As dinner table talk became

Something that more and more could name

The issue soon began to loom quite large

And though they rarely listened much

The talk grew to a timbre such

It attracted notice from those in charge

*

From supper time to internet

Even among the poshest set

The worried whispers grew into a shout

A politician mid-campaign

Found simple words that would explain

And suddenly our effort was all-out

*****

New schools were built by the score

In heartland and on sunny shore

To train our children to be scientists

The sports leagues did not play their games

Instead we learned the hallowed names

Of those on academic honor lists

*

The rock stars too, soon found their shows

Were made of naught but empty rows

As our eyes turned to world-saving goals

The preachers even found a way

To make their holy scriptures say

That we should save our bodies not just souls

*

A host of geniuses emerged

And gave their lives just as we urged

To make more future for our human race

A generation and then three

Applied themselves diligently

And made miracles at a record pace

*

A hundred years went by like this

We fought the approaching abyss

And made plans and did tests of every kind

The politicians fought of course

But science they did all endorse

Unto a dark fate we were not resigned

*

There were years in there when it seemed

That all the science we had dreamed

Would not in time’s fullness have been in vain

And in our efforts we would fix

Our other woes with science tricks

To put an end to hunger and to pain

*

They tested nukes designed to knock

The flight path of the massive rock

And argued over methods of transport

They pondered massive dish arrays

To focus the sun’s many rays

Into one beam the stone’s advance to thwart

*

But thoughts alone were not enough

Soon we had to start trying stuff

And when we tested out our grand designs

A nuke exploded by surprise

Darkening a continent’s skies

Blotting the sun to all on whom it shines

*

We continued to make mistakes

For that is just what science takes

But in their pride the scientists did not

Apologize for being wrong

Or placate well the madding throng

Instead they shamed and snarked and said we ought

*

To be more grateful they were there

Willing to give their lives in care

For people they themselves would never meet

The populace were not amused

And oh-so-quickly disabused

Those experts of their self-centered conceit

*

The scientists apologized

Yet they remained roundly despised

For they had come by then to represent

The very asteroid itself

Threat to civilization’s health 

Two hundred ten years ’til the main event

*****

Where scientists had run aground

The politicians circled round

Those buzzards never missed a chance to feed

They hopped around and squawked and tore

The flesh of the scientist corps

And destroyed any hope they would succeed

*

The asteroid-denying cult

Resurged as a direct result

And now burned stronger with all this new fuel

They started a bombing campaign

Crash-landed a hijacked airplane

Into the flagship scientific school

*

Rather than in horror recoil

Or attempt then to disembroil

Their followers from all their ill intent

Too many bad politicos

Instead the violent road chose

And gave the terrorists tacit assent

*

The scientists then fired back

A social media attack

All hell broke loose across the world wide web

Within a month one could no more

Say who had won the P.R.-war

Our shared humanity was at its ebb

*

Yet even as the clamor rose

There remained then among us those

Who kept their brilliant eyes upon the goal

And kept the tests going apace

Methods to save the human race

By stopping the approaching rock in whole

*

One hundred sixty years until

The stone imposed its mighty will

When someone set off warhead number two

This one in a metropolis

Eight hundred thousand dead and this

Prompted another turning of the screw

*

The xenophobia and rage

Of rats abandoned in a cage

Catalyzed the societal breakdown

Someone attacked the power grid

China had a take-over bid

Portland became an overnight ghost town

*

And no one knew who did these things

We longed for olden days when Kings

At least pretended to be in command

Now our boat steered into the rocks

Past refugees on groaning docks

And no one on the tiller had a hand

*

Supply chains split their weakest link

And left whole nations on the brink

Of starving, or otherwise going dark

It turned out the entire place

The frothing, reeling human race

Was tinder needing but a single spark

*

With just one massive piece of sod

Thrown at us by the hand of God

An ending to all humankind contrived

But not with its final impact

It killed us yet remained abstract

For we were all gone before it arrived

*****

Inside a bunker in the north

A man of staggering net worth

Was the last human being left alive

Years until the rock descended

Leaving earth forever ended

Were uncertain but perhaps thirty-five

*

His wife and son had come with him

When the world outside had grown grim

As screw-turns busted through the locks and seals

That humankind had always thought

Protected them from what fate brought

But turned out to be deaf to our appeals

*

They planned to live out all their days

Among the greens and blues and grays

With warehouses of necessary goods

But his wife found she could not cope

Without the faintest flickering hope

She took his son and fled into the woods

*

And as the old man closed his eyes

Dying on a pile of supplies

He wondered at our savage lonely fate

And did we ever have a choice

Or is free will a madman’s voice

When we were born had it been far too late

*

Thus when the cause of earth’s demise

Appeared at last in daytime skies

And gave the blue a second tumbling sun

T’was not a single human set

Of eyes to see this strange duet

Of lights that shone as earth ended her run

*

Now if you think this tale of woe

This apocalypse blow-by-blow

Is about politics then you are wrong

Sure climate is an asteroid

That one day will leave earth destroyed

As feedback loops go on and on and on

*

And many issues are this way

Speeding towards an approaching day

When disaster will bring to us an end

Yet worse than what will come I find

Is losing our collective mind

It makes an enemy of every friend

*

But what this poem is about

The message I want to get out:

Remember with each fleeting, passing breath

Your place in every song we sing

Inside this shimmering golden ring

You are humanity—the asteroid, death

*

Already it moves towards us now

The only questions when and how

But it will come as surely as the stone

The question is will it destroy

Your hope and love and bliss and joy

And ruin all the days that you have known

*

Or will you fight to find a way

To make the most of every day

And feel the things that give your struggle worth

So when it comes it finds you here

Not having given into fear

And open to the treasures of this earth

END

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this poem, please help me out by liking, commenting, and sharing on your social media. Thanks so much, and have a great week!