We are riding an old steam train
watching black and white television
just now inventing plastic
convinced we are at the edge
of all that’s been, but our flaw
is an inability to understand acceleration.

What is coming is not a shinier version
of what has already been. The future
is as different as we are to the dark.
A king who at one time was more powerful
than a God would hide in the mental ward of himself
if confronted with this industrial world.

It will be no different for us
but sooner, and it will be unpleasant.
The best time to be has already been.
I do not wish the children of our children’s
children the life they will have.
There will be no room for in between.