Poem: "The Last Command"
Dec. 30th, 2025 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills "The Last Command" square in my 1-1-24 card for the Public Domain Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. This is the third poem in the series Crystal Wood; it follows "Trees of Glass" and "Ghost Forests."
Warning: This poem is dark science fiction along the lines of ecological horror.
"The Last Command"
As the world changed,
life became more difficult.
The Glaze spread like wildfire,
ravaging the world's forests.
As the trees died, the weather
became more unstable without
forests to generate their own rain.
Desertification advanced, dunes
gnawing away at the croplands.
In many places, food plants
withered away even as
wild animals dwindled.
In some places, though,
perennial grasses survived
and grazers devoured them --
including domestic animals
such as sheep and cows.
People fought over the little
that remained, and areas that
were once ignored suddenly
became prime territory.
As people focused more
on fighting and feeding
themselves, other things
began to fall by the wayside.
Industry decreased, making
travel and communication
ever more precarious.
Of course, those based
on wood were hit hardest,
including construction, paper,
furniture -- especially firewood,
since nobody could afford
to burn wood anymore.
Wars seethed and sloshed
around the world, concentrating
on places with the most population
or those that still had some trees.
There were also military outposts
in far-flung places to keep watch
over less-populated territory.
Those soldiers huddled
in their bases, their forts,
or their little tent camps
and gave thanks that they
were not on the battlefields.
As time went on, though,
they began to question
their good fortune.
Transportation had
largely given out, or
at least it no longer
came as far as them.
Communication became
more and more unreliable,
and then downright sporadic.
The soldiers on the outskirts of
civilization were increasingly
left to their own devices as
hope faded like the trees.
The last command said only,
Survive as best you can.
* * *
Notes:
The wood industry includes forestry and paper products, wood products, and nontimber forest products.
fuzzyred. This is the third poem in the series Crystal Wood; it follows "Trees of Glass" and "Ghost Forests."Warning: This poem is dark science fiction along the lines of ecological horror.
"The Last Command"
As the world changed,
life became more difficult.
The Glaze spread like wildfire,
ravaging the world's forests.
As the trees died, the weather
became more unstable without
forests to generate their own rain.
Desertification advanced, dunes
gnawing away at the croplands.
In many places, food plants
withered away even as
wild animals dwindled.
In some places, though,
perennial grasses survived
and grazers devoured them --
including domestic animals
such as sheep and cows.
People fought over the little
that remained, and areas that
were once ignored suddenly
became prime territory.
As people focused more
on fighting and feeding
themselves, other things
began to fall by the wayside.
Industry decreased, making
travel and communication
ever more precarious.
Of course, those based
on wood were hit hardest,
including construction, paper,
furniture -- especially firewood,
since nobody could afford
to burn wood anymore.
Wars seethed and sloshed
around the world, concentrating
on places with the most population
or those that still had some trees.
There were also military outposts
in far-flung places to keep watch
over less-populated territory.
Those soldiers huddled
in their bases, their forts,
or their little tent camps
and gave thanks that they
were not on the battlefields.
As time went on, though,
they began to question
their good fortune.
Transportation had
largely given out, or
at least it no longer
came as far as them.
Communication became
more and more unreliable,
and then downright sporadic.
The soldiers on the outskirts of
civilization were increasingly
left to their own devices as
hope faded like the trees.
The last command said only,
Survive as best you can.
* * *
Notes:
The wood industry includes forestry and paper products, wood products, and nontimber forest products.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-30 10:32 pm (UTC)Also, The Glaze would eventually burn itself out, as it ran out of trees it could infect.
Thoughts
Date: 2025-12-30 10:55 pm (UTC)Hopefully. If there are enough people and organization left for that.
>> Although exactly how they'd survive without resupply is hard to imagine. <<
Yeah, that's the problem -- outposts are falling off the grid.
>> Perhaps they converted some of the old mine workings into sealed underground farms...<<
That could work, for however long they could get parts such as light bulbs. Industry started falling apart a lot earlier. I could imagine, if some people managed to pull together, contracting to a smaller base of industry focused on survival needs.
>> Also, The Glaze would eventually burn itself out, as it ran out of trees it could infect.<<
Well, maybe. Some considerations...
* It's rare for a pathogen to be 100% lethal even in a virgin field event like this. 90% sure, even 99% occasionally, but total is really rare.
* Genetic diversity is strength. Most wild trees have high diversity. Earth has over 3 trillion trees. Granted not all of these are wind-pollinated, but it seems likely that somewhere in that pile, there could be individuals with some resistance. Certainly not enough to stop the treepocalypse, but enough to complicate things a bit.
* Dutch elm disease and chestnut blight are still around. Both had populations of somewhat resistant trees, but exploded when they reached populations without resistance.
* Sometimes a disease evolves to become less lethal so it can spread and survive better.