kaput

"The End is Nigh," he said.

I saw his sign and laughed.

In every time and place that people live
they claim they are the last...
and, in the past, I judgement passed.

"So gullible," I glibly thought
and went about my way
no more distraught
than any other day.

But now,
amongst the smoke and ash,
I wish I could go back

before democracy was kaput,
before the shoe was on the other foot,
before my lungs were thick with soot,

and hug that sandwich-board sidewalk man
(or at the least, to shake his hand) and
apologize, for he was right all along,
he was right and we were wrong.