JUDGED

Auburn semi-desert,

Tired under the bleak sky.

A tattered terrain

Willing itself into existence

For billions of years

Has finally collapsed to near nothingness.

Flat, it goes on,

Seemingly forever.

Only random mounds

Of oddly rounded rubble

Punctuate the predictability.

Like it, I am nearing exhaustion.

My feet are wounded

From the rubbing of silicon sandals.

Gritty dust works like powdered emery

On blisters that burst long ago.

I escaped - 

Daring and exhilarating -

But the onset of weariness

Caught me by surprise.

I need to pace myself.

I need to rest.

I need to lean

Against any rotting edifice.

Disturbed, a dusky cockroach

Scrabbles its way between the cracks,

With an alert antenna visible,

Twitching in the weak sunlight.

Survivor of the judgement,

Just like me.

Survivors devour survivors to survive.

Food is food.

As a penalty for its stupid curiosity,

I capture the creature.

My meal wriggles, frantic, its extremes visible

In my clenched fist.