Decline and Follow

These days, little optimism
Obtains among the hoi polloi

Or any stripe of the elite.
Even technology’s triumphs

Portend some grim domination
Within most imaginations,

And reams of popular fictions
Ring through dystopian changes,

Trying out ways the world ends
For everything but narration.

Ah, who knows—instead of a fine
Apocalypse, you may witness

The triumph of barbarism
Once again, and of religion.