Is there hope for humanity?

[Loki'sMischief]

On the day that Atlas is no longer forced
To hold back the sky/
He is told that he no longer has to endure
His punishment/
The sky and the earth will embrace,
Destroying the planet>
As the trembling of their long awaited reunion
Causes a pressure so great
That the planet will be destroyed
While they sleep>
As only blissful lovers can /
The gods are abandoning us/
They are fleeing/
Atlas is told that he is free now/
He is asked if this task
Will be worth his broken back/
Is there any hope for humanity?
He considers this/
The gods take sides/
Ares is overworked
Overwhelmed,
It has been ages since he’s had a day off/
At first amused by our willingness to shed blood,
He became confused by our unwillingness to acknowledge
The way in which our blood connected us,
The same color, no matter the person
No matter their differences
The river always the same/
Dionysus is intrigued by us
Pleased by our indulgences
How easily we embrace madness
Envious of our ability to justify excess,
Belligerence or celebration
Dionysus finds more familiarity with we flawed creatures
Than with his peers
He raises his glass, to our triumph
Or to our destroying the world
Regardless,
He shall drink to that/
Poseidon hangs his head/
What we have done to the ocean
Needs no words,
There is pity in his sadness
Filth in his beard
As he turns his back to us
His answer given/
Aphrodite has seen us grow
Our ability to love expanding
As our awareness of ourselves>
And the world around us
Has continued^ to be reshaped,
There is hope, she believes
Though we still do a brilliant job of dividing ourselves
Compassion has served to bring us together
Aphrodite finds beauty in the way we have seen strength in love/
Gaia--- does not speak/
Mother Earth is always loving,
Always forgiving
But this is buried beneath hurt/
There is shame,
And resentment/
She watches the sky
Remembering what it meant to be happy
To feel loved/
She has given us more than she had to offer,
And we asked for more…
Gaia, Mother Earth is silent
Because she loves us and she knows,
The truth would mean our end/
Athena speaks last
For she is war
But she is wisdom
And she has reflected on our ability for both/
We have this unique duality/
We are the only creatures capable
Of killing, not in order to survive
But to prove our point of being right/
In human beings we find the capacity
For vengeance,
Our species is capable of causing destruction and pain
On an apocalyptic level,
We have a trademark
On letting misunderstanding
Turn into prolonged displays of seclusion/
Separated by differences that have no significance,
We are capable of irrational displays of ignorance>
We are also always learning
Always growing
And in this way we continue to evolve
We recognize our ability to change
The world
A challenge more widely accepted/
Atlas sighs
His weariness is evident
Arms trembling
Dust,
Once bone,
Shifts beneath worn muscles
Atlas reflects/
It is not what we have done
It is our potential that he weighs
Measured against the weight of an entire galaxy
An eternity keeping us from being crushed,
Wearing away to nothing
Until the sky is too eager to hold back/
We will either destroy the world
Or make it something greater than it has ever been/
Is there hope for humanity?
He will leave that up to us//
Atlas,
Shifting to get better footing
Chooses to endure

[Nakedpoet]

Vary well penned open mic yep wonder what the gods would think of humanity today , true even Atlas would struggle to hold the world up. Good epic.

[JASON]

fantastic!! what a story.
The ending is perfect - just like how on survivor, at the end of a challenge,
the contestants start shifting their footing, and we as the audience know,
time is short...
Incredible amount of thought and effort for open mic - well done!!

[allmirth]

I enjoyed the epic quality of this, which suits the enormity of the question. Humanity is capable of such extremes of love and hate. Creation and destruction. Each human has a choice to embrace hope and be a positive force in the world or sink into despair. Thought-provoking write.

Thanks much for sharing.
Mirthy

[rupertpupkin]

Well deserved spotlight for this. I believe it is an open mic piece and that makes it all the more deserving. Well done!

[miharu]

What an epic! Truly a well deserved spotlight. There are so many good things about this piece... Loved the slow reflections of the gods, the circular return to Atlas and the end, the personality Atlas is given here. Wonderful write!