If I Were a Poet

All art is going to burn—
All the paintings, books, songs, sculptures…
If it’s not war or accident or vandalism,
then eventually, even if it’s billions of years from now
when the sun loses control,
all art is going to burn.

There will only be our ghostly memories,
the Mona Lisa’s smile,
Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,”
maybe the final scene of Casablanca.
The rest will just be ashes.