A VARIATION ON A THEME BY MOSES
by Michael Langston

In the end, Man destroyed himself and the earth.

2 And the earth was empty, and without life; and stillness was upon the face of the dust. And the spirit of Death moved upon the face of all the world.

3 And Man said, Let there be life: but there was no life. And the evening and the morning were the last day.

4 And it happened that when Man had at last subdued the earth, and had brought down his dominion unto every living creature, there came a time when each perished; even unto the last of them:

5 Great whales, and every creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly; grass, and herb yielding seed, and tree yielding fruit; fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven; the beast of the earth, and cattle; and every thing that creepeth upon the earth:

6 Till the last had passed, and all were gone, that only men and the rocks of the ground should be left.

7 And Man watched and comprehended not.

8 And Man said, Let us make earth in our image, after our likeness: and let us have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

9 So Man created earth in his own image, in the image of Man created he it; towns and cities created he them, and all things that hath not life: and every nonliving thing that moveth upon the earth.

10 But every living thing was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth.

11 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, and every man:

12 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the whole land, died. And nothing remained alive: all they that were on the earth.