Used to Be

There used to be trees and grass and blue sky
    if you went far enough from the city
before the bomb changed all that
    things used to be pretty. 

Now they’re not. The trees
    and flowers and growing things
outside the bubble dome
    didn’t do well. They sort of died.

People have begun to take on
    the same ashen pallor as the
land and sky. People seem subdued
    now that the only green is hydroponic algae.

But I think they are a beautiful light green.

—a woman
  Outback
  Australia