The Last Human Being on Earth

My brother just died, departed this world
I’m the last human being on Earth.

I remember the stories my mother once told me
When I was a child in the remains of the forest
Stories of others, when there were many
Before the disease swept them away
Before the great heat and storms of fury
Before the rains stopped
And the ground became parched
Before the food vanished

Stories of a great war beyond all comprehension
All the shelters now useless rubble
Wrecked by the enemies of humanity
All for a cause undefined and reckless

The fields used to be green
Now they are charred, radioactive,
Useless for planting
Useless for anything

All animals dead, we were the last two
Now I am one, awaiting my turn
And then the Earth becomes stone
All life wiped away from her
Just like the Moon
With nothing but craters
Dust, rocks, and emptiness
Where oceans once swirled

Why did this happen?
Why am I hungry?
Why don’t I feel fear
Or nagging regret?

It wasn’t my fault, I’m just the last victim
I didn’t know them, they died before me
They chewed up the planet and spat out its living
As bones with no flesh, just waste on the ground

Now, as I shake for the last time
Shivering of cold, hunger, wasting disease,
My words become whispers of smoke in the silence
As I lay down my head and say

“Goodbye….”