Robert M. Simmons  

from Added Entries (Poems 1991- )

           The Air-conditioned Ark

It fell to Noah, old and wise,

to save all species from demise,

but now there was no flood to flee

as heat became the enemy.

He worked each day from dawn till dark

to retrofit the ancient ark

with a system to chill the air

for those who would assemble there.

The system was installed with speed,

and then there was another need,

sufficient fuel to operate

until some distant future date.

Once all the pieces were in place,

the call went out to every race

of man and beast that very day

to seek safety without delay.

People from many countries came

to board the ark with Noah's name.

Most languages and shades of skin

found shelter from the heat within,

while animals of every shape

were also rushing to escape,

from tiny mice with hurried gait

to elephants who could not wait,

and birds of all sorts joined the lot

of those seeking a cooler spot.

Once the great ark could hold no more,

Noah secured its wooden door.

Some creatures did not make it through,

but there was nothing he could do.

The ship was filled from stern to stem,

lacking the space for more of them,

so a judgment had to be made

that some would thrive and others fade,

but Noah hoped the heat would end

and someday damage done would mend,

just as the rains long, long ago

had ceased and saved the world below.

Things started well for those on board

where food and fuel supplies were stored,

but from the portholes they could see

those who were doomed by destiny.

At first the birds and insects failed,

descending from the skies they sailed.

Next came the fragile race of man

reaching the end of its life span.

Then other mammals followed suit

along this now familiar route.

Reptiles of course could not evade

the trap that man's behavior made.

Even the earthworm in the ground

joined those who were extinction bound,

and plants were wilting all the while,

compounding further nature's trial,

as forests that for ages stood

were soon reduced to kindling wood,

and fields where fertile crops once grew

became wastelands that dust storms blew,

until all life lacking retreat

in turn succumbed to waves of heat.

This blight continued months and years

confirming Noah's darkest fears,

and fuel supplies that once were vast

began to near their end at last.

Noah noted with grave concern

the needle's unrelenting turn

toward the ominous empty mark,

and its importance to the ark.

Of course the fuel supplies decreased

until the cooling system ceased.

There was no other rescue plan

to save the last of beast and man,

and in the ark the heat climbed high

as Noah scanned the heedless sky.

This was a blow beyond repair

to Noah and those in his care,

who were the very last to feel

the fate that man's mistakes would seal.

The ark that was designed to save,

became for those it held a grave,

as one by one each life inside

succumbed to intense heat and died,

and with their end forever went

the wisdom of this dire event.

                          © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poems about, climate change, global warming, Noah's Ark, poetry, poems

The Air-conditioned Ark