23 Oct 2005

Boredom Wars

I lived during the age of cars.
Personal transport was a must, worries…
Health and welfare, work and careers;
politics, economics and government.
The first to fall was disease, of course, parts grown
in vats to replace, the littlest germs hunted down to
their final demise.
Then fell the wisdom of age, in her dignity, tracked
down in the gene`s swirls decoded to their nth degree.
Then fell the final truth of death, repairs so complete
that one could only choose to die, except by the most extreme
mischance.
First came the death games, the lotteries, the dares, then came
the suicides, and the legal rights of passage to keep it that way.
Then after came the boredom wars, tens of thousands on the field
of battle with no more than sticks and knives, shown weekly
by video to the world; some returned again and again, others choose
not.
Killing and death become all, and nothing; in her returning to
her throne, the final truth of death came clear.
Age still lived in the original scheme, hidden only for a time by find and fix;
left more and more often, now, to the natural way.
The old diseases are gone, but new arrive with great fanfare, glorified
as new saviors, Jesus in a germ.
But I – I lived during age of cars when personal transport was a must,
when life still had dimension in light of its inevitable end, and the
roads and curbs went on forever – and life did not – and the rough hewn concrete glittered in the sun, and all seemed so terribly temporary.
I lived during the age of cars, so very, very long ago.

⇑ by Rick Silletti in Scratchpad