Nobel Prize

Are you a nightmare or an oracle,
unavoidable?
Are you the future, or a plausible
worst-case scenario?
You've visited in my sleep
Every night this week
Curled yourself in my lap
And smiled while you spoke:

"Once we've poisoned all the water
Once we've blackened out the air
We'll finish murdering each other
Fair is fair"

I tried to talk you down:
"There's a better half you're not looking at
A greater empathy - "
You shrugged me off,
Talked over me:
"You & your simple life
Come at a complex price
And they're busting through the gates
To steal it for themselves -

I say we razorblade the borders
Or even take the fight to them
Let's go slaughtering the natives
Again

Or we can fire up the program
Let the drones do all the dirt
Might even win a Nobel Peace Prize
Well-deserved"

It's every bit as ugly
Every bit as brutal
Every bit as dark as it's light
Paralyzed, wondering why
While she's dead asleep
I'm starving for protection
Pulled in all directions
Never certain which is the lie:
The elegance of being alive,
Or the agony