The Elijahs who parted the waters with the rod are gone
And we remain
The chariot of fire and the whirlwind
The woven mantle and the staff with which to split the sea
Fall to us
The coal fire and the dam dynamo whirling in the spray
The white coat and the uranium control rod
But we are not prophets
We simply can see
And shout from the high places
That the machines we wrought were not miracles
That the land is barren and the rivers overrun their banks
No salt of the earth
Cast into the sea can make it clean
The cruse of oil has faltered and the measure of meal has failed
The bears are coming from the forest
The foam receding from the pebbled shore
Where stands not a host to safely cross
But a sprawl thirsting evermore
Pilfering the waters until the sickly light pierces the sediment
Where the Leviathan lies
Beneath the silt of the ancient lakebed
And roaring he ascends
Be he creature of many sinewed heads
Or clouds of Mercury, Arsenic, Lead
All the same
Those wefting limbs billow into the Valley
Piercing each palisade and cell wall
Coughing until lungs pall
And that will be all
Whether Abaddon beneath or a Hell all man’s own
You will no longer need us
