You must be better, we said
Not just better, but best
The last one was so miserable
Anxiety, misery, even death
You must solve this all
You must fix it all, for us
You have no choice, we said

Then you looked up at us
And said “I’ll be worse”
Better in some ways, maybe
But so much less in others
Indifference to hostility
Science to stubbornness
Rhetoric to violence

We saw in your face the end
The final act dawning loudly
For a hopeless doomed world
Glowing embers visible even if
The fire was only five years lit
The last was a surprise
You were deliberate

We look now at the next
Afraid to ask the same of it
We do not ask it to be better
Best is not even considered
We silently beg, instead
For a simple boon
That you not be worse

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