They came to gauge intelligence.
Detecting little commonsense,
they dispatched probes to reassess,
expecting Earth might still impress,

despite those signals sent through space
suggesting that the human race
had advancements left to make
and had no clue what was at stake.

Assist?  Destroy?  Ignore?  Invade?
Their final choice?  To be delayed:
return a thousand years from now
- the final chance they would allow

to see if Earth, at last, would learn
from history, or chose to burn.