Machine Jeremiah

When the robots replace the Troopers

and Sentinels stand

at every city corner

and throughout all the lands.

 

Then people will fear no robber,

but will come to fear the machines.

For they will have nothing to eat for dinner

But dust and dirt and bile.

 

When floods come to the coastal cities

And droughts to all the plains

And the waters are all polluted

with poisons, oil and toxic fumes.

 

Then people will find no end to hunger

But disease, rot and stench

And the wealthy will retire to their bunkers

til it is their turn to die.

 

When the Machines replace the Troopers

Then the Cylons will go on the march

And mankind may disappear in fumes of Sulfur

Clothed skeletons unburied in the dust.

 

Then the skeletons of misers

will mingle with those of paupers

And the machines will bury themselves

and no life remain anywhere.

 

But Cold Sentinels will stand

dangling purple threads.

At the corners throughout the land

With Rusting computer voices

Gravelly and forgotten yet still remain.

To tell the winds our lives were in vain.

 

Christopher H. Holte 12/8/2016