Tardigrades, commonly called water bears, are eight-legged microscopic animals. They are among the most resilient lifeforms on Earth. They can survive massive doses of radiation, pressure that exceeds that of the deepest ocean trenches, years of dehydration, and a temperature range of minus 200 Celsius to 149 Celsius. Low Earth orbit experiments have demonstrated that some species of tardigrade can survive for days while exposed to the vacuum of space.
Despite our best efforts, humans could never destroy the Earth enough to render the tardigrade extinct. Perhaps at some point in the distant future, some highly evolved descendant of the tardigrade will happen upon our ruined civilization and tsk-tsk us for our recklessness.
tardigrades basking
in the anemic light of
nuclear winter
The Hawk Squawks 
Oh yes! The haiku isn’t of use without the explanation, but you’ve made my day with it.
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It will happen sooner than we think!
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Yeah, I get that feeling too. World leaders don’t seem competent these days. Inflammatory rhetoric and knee jerk reactions are a bad combination in the Nuclear Age.
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Yes, so sad and insane (the way things are due to human foolishness).
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I agree that this haiku could not stand alone without the prose. It is neither a haiku, nor a haibun. I didn’t know what to call it, but I’m glad you liked it.
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