Ten Dark Quatrains Channeling Nostradamus

The reign of the Boar follows the reign of the Fox.
Fires burn from the narrow straits to Gibraltar.
No blade green or worthy branch will flourish
from the debris and ash of unnamed graves.

Unseen vermin infest a once-great nation
and plague winds carry disease far and near.
Cities will darken and fields lie barren.
Tomorrow's children must uncover the past.

A message sealed in a ship of steel
summons fierce invaders from realms afar.
Not words, not weapons, will deter their pillage,
and lands will be plundered over and again.

Those of metal limb and metal countenance,
their minds aflame with flashes of light,
will rule an aged and acclaimed metropolis,
soon inhabited by none but their own.

Noxious vapors foul the breath of life.
Polluted waters flood coastal lands.
Forced migrations, arms raised in anger.
All nations will know the devastation.

The greening of a sister world completed.
Distant colonies rebel against their masters.
Ships of war are launched for the long journey.
No profit to be gained without a just peace.

Dead bones drink the blood of the living.
Decline and a darkling future are unveiled.
An avaricious man strikes down his brother
to prophesize from a throne of death.

The arrogance of science and ignorance abide.
Earth and air become the playthings of man.
Deadly mutations proliferate with abandon.
The amoral balance of nature is restored.

A faceless god walks among walls of flame.
Towers of great commerce are toppled overnight.
The blood of the Earth erupts in holocaustic fires.
Destruction and death reign ad infinitum.

When the hands of the clock are reversed,
history will be unraveled and sewn again.
All prophecy realized in eternal variation,
each variation a universe unto itself.

Appeared in Dark Matters