'This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper.'
I stood at the top of the hill and gazed, eyes wide open,
As water roared and gushed all around me.
Flimsy houses, tiny paper people--
All of them gone in a split second.
Now the water was black, now it was red, now it was gold.
Lightning danced over the surface of the water, frighteningly beautiful.
It's easy to think destruction is beautiful
When you aren't a part of it.
Water gives life, but it also takes life.
It is the preserver as well as the destroyer.
As I looked on, all of humanity's wrongdoings flashed before my eyes:
Lying, cheating, backstabbing, killing--
And more, which I won't reiterate.
Humans have a way of bringing about their end, don't they?
It's almost a skill, I'd say.
At the end of every yuga, the great flood is bound to come.
I have no one left whom I hold dear.
Yes, I've done things I'm not proud of.
But right now, I am simply observing.
The next generation will need this, if they survive.
Is that a golden fish I spy? Is that a boat tied to its horn?
One's eyes can play tricks when one is close to the end.
Now the water's drawing closer.
I feel its screams in my ears, in my heart.
My parchment floats into the air.
Am I ready? The water seems to be asking.
Yes, yes, I think, although my blood has turned to ice
And my face is wet.
No matter. Even if we are destroyed, we will be created again.
The water embraces me.
