Ladybug of Doom

In the midnight of our days
Time stopped in nuclear fallout
Both hands pointed straight up at last
Tended intently by the devout

A doomsday predicted since 1947
Then plus or minus seventeen minutes away
Never more though often less
In a heavy metal weaponry ballet

"Certainly the trigger must have been the Middle East"
One might say
Which is an educated contemporary guess to make
Whilst sipping the tea at the nuclear cafe

But the root of the problem is more basic than that
Existing in the form of the common Coccinellidae
Having sought safe quarters in chilly fall weather
Resulting in an unexpected blooming Ladybug bouquet

Happening right in the wrongest place it could
Shorting out wires and circuit boards
Inexplicably activating systems that had safeguards to their safeguards
All in keeping with the anti-proliferation accords

Now there is no one left to say what happened next
Just two hands pointing straight up to midnight
And mutated giant lumbering Ladybugs in a radioactive haze
Celebrating the morning after the midnight of our days