The Darkness Spreads

The Darkness Spreads

39 lines

The world ended
As we knew it

For reasons
That the scientists
Could not understand

Sam Adams
Was the scientist
Who first alerted
The world

To the impending doom
The world was no longer
Rotating as it should

And soon the world
Would be more like the moon
One side in the sun
One side in the dark

The sunlit side
Would be hot
Humid but livable

The dark side
Would be plunged
Into 24 hours of darkness

And would be cold
Filled with ice
Another ice age
Emerging with a vengeance

Fortunately or unfortunately
The world would be split in two
At the equator

With the northern hemisphere
In the light
And the Southern hemisphere
Disappearing into perpetual darkness

Sam and his colleagues
Spread the news
But no one could grasp it
Until it happened.



NEW PROMPT


May 19th, 1780, was the "Dark Day" when a combination of fog and ash (from burning forest fires) blocked out nearly all the sunlight in New England -- much to the panic of the confused residents.

Write a poem or story about a character's actions and reactions when the day suddenly and inexplicably goes dark (either temporarily or permanently).

You can construe "day" as suits your setting, but the light source must be one over which the residents have no control and don't understand, and so are justifiably panicked when it inexplicably stops.