continuity

you are not going to win a battle against this world.

you will try

you will jump from great heights 

and many of you will succeed

but enough of you will not

and it will be a tragedy.

you will burn many rocks

and you will make a lot of money 

but enough of you will be ruined by it

and it will not be a tragedy

because you are stifled by the facade of wealth 

and forced to breathe the disgusting byproduct 

of a global science experiment.

you will dive to great depths 

and many of you will resurface

but enough of you will be crushed

unrecognizable.

nobody will remember your last words

or know what happened to you at all

you will have created a mystery through your arrogance

ruined the lives of those you love

and it will be a tragedy.

it will all be a tragedy.

as if jumping from great heights 

does not invoke the image of dying.

as if sailing upon a substance which can fill our lungs and destroy us 

does not make us think of our demise.

as if going under the crushing weight of an unfathomable amount of water 

offers any chance of resurfacing and walking the plains of the earth another day.

but so many times we make it by the skin of our teeth

so that challenging the world is all too common,

thrilling,

rewarding,

expected.

we think we can take everything there is to take.

we think we can whisk past death on our way plummeting towards the ground 

and say hello

for a moment.

but you forget 

that there is not a moment 

of any day 

when she does not have the last word

with someone.

someday, when you do defeat this world

when you have depleted her oils

when you have scraped her caverns clean

when you have turned her waters from silvery blue to stone and chemicals

when your architecture has grazed the stratosphere and you are surrounded by your meaningless riches

when you have destroyed those around you to gain what is rightfully yours

and the earth is hot and dead and barren

she will crush you.

and when you are gone,

she will reclaim everything you leached away

and carry on, as if you never breathed a molecule of her oxygen