Don’t set off any earthquakes
or supervolcanoes tonight.

If the world is going to end,
I want to be awake when it happens.

There will be something to see
in those last seconds

before the curtain tumbles around us
laden with stone and flame,

and I just know I’ll be the one
compelled to capture it

and cram what little sense
could be made of it into words

no one will read, but dammit,
I’ll try, and I would like

a good night’s sleep before I face that,
thinking of good things to do in my future.

It’s not much to ask, I think,
to want to be at my best when the worst happens.