Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Two Nov-Dec 2026.
Epitaph, poem by Piers Davies.
Epitaph
Sic transit gloria mundi
We are strangers
in a strange land
our own land transformed
by climate changes.
The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse
receive redundancy notices–
not carbon neutral enough.
Miasmic fear hangs
over the meat works
the animals know
it will not end well.
The last COP meeting
held in the Marianas Trench
for greater security
set a new non-binding target.
Venice was the first to submerge–
scuba tours of Saint Marks
were on everyone’s bucket list
until the pirate attacks began.
Smothered by sandstorms
from the encroaching desert
Los Angeles and San Diego
lie desolate and abandoned.
Along the skyline
the fires rush forward
wind fickle but ferocious
eliminating all life.
Elegant skyscraper towers
protrude like periscopes
from the turgid waters
covering Lower Manhattan.
The last war ends
in the mandatory
victor’s parade through
the pyramids of skulls.
Wondering how to explain
these disasters to future generations
became much easier–
there are no future generations.
© Piers Davies
Piers Davies was born in Sydney, Australia but has lived most of his life in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. He is a Law of the Sea specialist having graduated with an LL.B from Auckland University and a Diploma in ECL from the City of London College. He has been a long-time writer and reciter of poetry. His poems have appeared in journals and anthologies in New Zealand, Australia, U.K., France, Switzerland, South Africa, Poland, U.S.A., and India. Four books/chapbooks of his poetry have been published. He is co-facilitator of Titirangi Poets and co-editor of Titirangi Poets Ezines and anthologies. He was a scriptwriter of feature films (Homesdale and The Cars that Ate Paris (Australia) and Skin Deep (New Zealand)), short films and documentaries. He was sometime Poet Laureate of Haringey, London.