A Post-Apocalyptic World

This poem takes the entire planet earth as its primary setting. It speaks in general terms of geographic and geological features, as well as the things that humankind has created on the surface of the earth. It rarely uses particular locations, and there are no markers identifying a specific city or town. This setting creates a sense of totality: everywhere that can be imagined is subject to the tragedy of darkness.

The Universe

In its final moments, the poem's lens "zooms out' to show us the entire universe. It is not just the earth that has been cast into darkness: all the stars have gone out, and the moon is dead. The entire cosmology of existence, everything that is or ever could be, has ceased to exist. Only darkness remains. In the final words of the poem: "she is the universe" (83).