"Ukraine" and "Life after"

Ukraine

Mammoths plod through fields and farms
Curling tongues snake around trees, signposts
Rip up cars, planes, buildings
Ancient beasts come again to prove
We are not civilized
We are not advanced
We hungrily tear apart
That which we built
Bellows of rage echo
Throughout the land
Demand more,
We want more
We kill to clear the way
For our own herd
Our nature ravages our edifices
As we eat our way
Through what we created
I hate us
Do we all hate ourselves?
Killing others in proxy
Self-loathing blankets the sky
Blocks the sun
Suffocates our race
In the cold winds of
our new ice age

Life after

we trudge beneath constant rain
we cower neath opaque umbrellas
we follow those in front of us,
a drooping red umbrella telegraphing
the end of the line
 
we woke one day to siren sounds
dark skies and acid rain
in the wildness we reached for help
but our devices were as silent
as the night was dour
the winds were raging, whipping torrents 
that ravaged our homes 
bursts of light branded our eyes
with signs of apocalyptic terror
highlighting dying greenery
and spelling our doom
 
we turned to neighbors we’d never met
hoping them to be friends
to know everything we don’t
how to forage
how to find potable water
how to triage our wounded
how to build shelters
how to stay sane together
mimicking a flock of geese
in tight formation flying
south for the winter
 
hoping together our inner knowledge
will deliver when electronics cannot
 
we plod on, following wild eagles
up and over the mountains, into safety
(we hope)
because that’s what we do
we carry on like eagles sweeping
the heavens for prey and secure nests