Theoretically, near the time of the Big Crunch, we may finally be able to travel to nearby universes, and thus escape a final curtain call -- if we're fast enough to take advantage of it, and if everything goes right...
The Crunch
From
infinitesimal nothing a
speck of light grows, expands
ever outward, ever more slowly outward, cools,
becomes life, then expires, becomes life once more, grows
to intelligence, then expires, becomes life once more, waxes
wise, then intelligent, as being expands ever outward, ever more slowly
outward, life expanding across a universe now still, now shrinking
inward, ever more swiftly inward, as pattern seeks to preserve
pattern itself, seeking relief from the coming crunch, finding
a doorway at last into another universe, jumping
headfirst into pattern's last hope, not hearing
the warning: antimatter!, falling
into infinitesimal
nothing
from which a
speck of light grows, expands...