Civilization is going to decay.
All that we treasure will crumble away.
Our planet’s future
will burn out with the sun.
It’s written in the stars.
There’s nothing to be done.
Uncountable religions
will be conceived and die
as people try to answer
the age-old question, why?
Why is there something
instead of nothing at all?
Why did the universe
arise just to fall
with natural law and mortality
the fatal flaw
in this brilliant tragedy.
Some people say
there is an author of this play,
someone who wrote it all
and still directs today.
The only stage hands
I see though are our own.
I think that we write
and perform this play alone.
Our death is preordained.
There’s no use to pretend.
All of our lives come to
the same sad end.
Nothing we do or make
is ever going to last.
I didn’t sign up for this role
in which I’m cast

with natural law and mortality
our fatal flaw
in this brilliant tragedy.
But....
CHORUS:
There’s no need to give up hope:
There’s a way that you can cope
even though the end is clear.
What you do matters now
and to all who will be here.
When you spread your love and joy,
treating others caringly,
trying to help them so their lives
are as good as they can be,
we can still find meaning
even though we see
we are stars
in a brilliant tragedy.
We are a walking fatality.
Such is life: what won’t be will be.
But there is good news
-- you’re not dead yet.
No need to have
a pessimistic mind set.
How fortunate we are
to be in this tale,
a creative production
of amazing scale.
Though we will never see
the end or start,
each one of us gets to
play our part
with natural law and mortality
our fatal flaw
in this brilliant tragedy.
And...
CHORUS: REPEAT
All life on Earth will die.
Nothing can flee
the sunlight’s increasing
intensity.
Oceans will boil
and evaporate.
The life-giving sun
will now exterminate.
Red Giant enlarging,
scorching and bright,
before contracting into night.
No survivors.
All we’ll leave is space debris
in a universe expanding for eternity
since natural law and mortality
were our fatal flaw
in this brilliant tragedy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo sources:
Sunset, photo by Erica's spouse
"Religious Place" by Heather Kitchen (www.freephotosbank.com)
Starry Sky (Public Domain, NASA)
Cathedral Christ the Savior with St. Basil's in the foreground (Public Domain)
Gravestone, photo by Petr Kratochvil (www.publicdomainpictures.net)
Creation of a Solar System (www.freeclipartnow.com) Rainbow photo by Anna Cervova (www.publicdomainpictures.net) A pig with her piglet (www.freeclipartnow.com) Spiral Galaxy NGC 4414 (Credit NASA Public Domain) Hands (Public Domain, courtesy of pdphoto.org)
Eagle Nebula (www.freeclipartnow.com)
Supernova-1994D (www.freeclipartnow.com)
Earth (Public Domain, NASA, http://gimp-savvy.com)
Ocean waves (www.pdphoto.org) Sun (www.freeclipartnow.com)