The Seeds of Disaster

The Starship Galaxy III came in

To land in a farmer’s field,

There wasn’t much of a barley crop

For the seed had failed to yield,

The city lay just a mile away

In a glow of flashing lights,

‘I wonder how they manage to sleep,’

Said the Captain, Arzen Kytes.

 

They’d travelled across the universe

In a push through hyper space,

For seven years at the speed of light

In a bid to seek and trace,

They’d followed the trail of radio waves

From near to a distant sun,

And ended up in the Milky Way

Where the sounds were coming from.

 

‘There has to be life out there,’ they’d said,

‘We’re surely not alone,

We’ll send a mission to check them out,

To see what they’re like at home,

They must have a crude technology

To be able to transmit,’

And now in sight of the city lights

They were on the verge of it.

 

‘There’s oxygen in the air out there,

It’s much the same as home,

It’s safe to send out a party in

The seven seater drone,

So under the Captain, Arzen Kytes

They flew to a city square,

But the skyscrapers were neglected

And the weeds were thick out there.

 

They roamed through many department stores

Now empty of displays,

And passed by stores that were boarded up,

‘This town’s seen better days!’

Nobody walked the city streets

And the Captain shook his head,

‘Whatever happened to bring them down,

It looks like they’re all dead!’

 

But then in an old computer shop

They saw a sign of life,

A dozen or so of bobbing heads,

An old man and his wife,

But nobody said a single word

Or looked when they came in,

But kept on pushing the buttons of

Some tool that glowed within.

 

The old man opened his mouth and spoke,

‘You’re not from round these parts.

I saw the flivver you just flew in,

We’re back to the horse and cart.

This generation is not so bright,

They don’t know how to speak,

The gift of language has passed them by

Now all that they do is tweet.’

 

‘When most of the population died

With famine, came disease,

The crops were genetically modified

And killed off all the bees,

So nothing is pollinated now

But the bit we do by hand,

It wasn’t enough to save the world

From the greed that ruined the land.’

 

‘But what about all the city lights,

They’re flashing still, in truth!’

‘Everything came with flashing lights

To hypnotise our youth.

We may get help from a distant star

If they see them flash in space,

But once the power goes off, we’ll see

The end of the human race.’

 

The Captain of the Galaxy III

Flew back to board his ship,

When questioned by the rest of the crew

He frowned, and bit his lip,

‘There’s signs of a civilisation here

But they’ve let it go to seed,’

And smiled at the gentle irony,

‘The fools gave in to greed!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Draven]

The youth of today have truly been hypnotized... Even worse for me is that I feel I am one of them. Good work, Sir. : )

[Marie]

I hope that isn't really the future. I look to technology to save the world, not end it.

[Mark]

A delightful little tongue-in-cheek bit of prophecy, the seeds of
which are coming to fruition faster every year. Well said, Sir.

[Ahena MK]

a job well done ..... 100/100
ahena

[Arrinae]

Nicely written. I love how it mocks today's youth for how unintelligent they've become. Well done!