1. In the Year Twenty Thirteen,
Twice shall the world be shaken,
At Richter 8 or more,
And once shall a volcano
Violently erupt.
But the invincible, soothing Sun
Shall calm the roiling seas,
And the climate of the world,
Shall continue to cool.
2. The New World in the West
Shall regain its composure,
While the weary Old World
Struggles in its disparate cackle,
Where Old Reprobates refuse to die
But their poison shall be contained.
Doomsayers shall be shriller,
More fanatic and more extreme.
But there will come an end
To their profligacy and waste.
3. The boils in the Middle of the East
Shall still swell and suddenly burst
And new carbuncles formed
Will need very prompt incision.
Blood-letting shall there be
And the recovery shall be slow,
The rashes will continue
And the itches will need scratching.
4. Corruption in the Body Orient
Shall fester and turn gangrenous,
But surgery of the infected parts
Will give some hope of renewal.
The Dragon shall breathe fire,
And the Tiger shall begin to roar,
And together, in new harness,
Will draw the chariot of the world.
5. Men shall marry men,
And women dally with women,
While children lose their innocence
Well before their time.
But of 7 billion people,
Six will be fed and clothed,
And will cherish a measure of hope
For the life that waits for them.
6. Reading the Human Alphabet
Will ease and grow in fluency,
And even little babies shall know
What diseases they must endure.
The Healers and the Drugmakers
Shall sell wonderful new cures,
For imaginary ailments
Of no great significance.
But they shall also find new Drugs
Against many human woes,
Precisely to be directed,
And immediately effective.
7. Twenty Thirteen
Will be just another Year.
A natural state of turmoil
In a world that shall not end.
There will, again as always,
Be much sound and bluster,
Of very little value
And signifying nothing.
8. We will be one year older
And that much more mature,
But one year in 200,000
Is not so very much.
But every little gain
Is not to be lightly given up.
9. And so in Twenty Thirteen,
I am glad to be alive,
Not for any raptures, but
For there was no better time to live!
The k2p blog 