The Last Witness

I exit my derelict craft,
the solitary survivor
of humanity's final,
fruitless venture into the unknown
I cannot adequately describe
what I witness as I emerge from the wreckage -
a tableau beyond all imagined visions of hell
Purifying ethereal fire
erases the remaining vestiges
of man's construction
as it passes around me
Radiant beings converge
at the terrestrial zenith they dance, intertwine and ascend as a pillar of light
into the expanse of stars,
then they pass out of sight leaving me all alone in this nightmare
at the nadir of despair
a sudden lucid call, a thundering echo
cascade of thoughts entrances
my mind no longer mine alone
Visions flicker past my third eye
each more vivid than the last
testimony of how we fell
beyond grace, beyond redemption
And we silently departed
having left no enduring mark
With the last witness' passing
No trace of our existence will remain
Beneath my feet I feel the death throes of a forsaken planet
As something unseen siphons the atmosphere into the void
celestial vortex uprooting the last brittle trees from the arid ground
axial rotation grinds to a halt and the solar wind purges away what's left
I lie on the shore of a vast crimson sea, my final breaths are escaping
No tunnel of light stands before me, just an endless frigid expanse
Drowning in the deluge of extinguished hopes
And premonitions of futures that never will be