Planet 404: Life Not Found
Human error.
Please reboot civilisation.
No asteroid.
No supervolcano.
No divine reckoning.
Just a grill,
a cow,
a shrug.
We were warned,
again,
and again,
but we couldn’t hear it
over the sizzle of flesh.
Tradition over truth.
Bacon over biosphere.
Chicken over children’s futures.
Every animal
we bred,
fed,
bled,
pumped the air full
of methane,
carbon,
ammonia,
denial.
Geoengineering failed.
Markets collapsed.
Pledges turned to ash.
Governments blamed,
then burned.
We tried to eat
our way
through the apocalypse.
But the animals were gone.
And the crops
had long since withered.
We died
surrounded by consequences
we refused to believe in.
No birds.
No bees.
No trees.
Just the smog,
and the silence.
Just the heat,
and the hunger.
Just ruins.
And regret.
A scorched orb
spinning through space,
too toxic for life.
We were warned.
We had science.
We had options.
We chose cheeseburgers.
We laughed at vegans.
We mocked activists.
We called it freedom.
Planet 404:
Life Not Found.