Future Passed

Oh, you should have seen it!
There were aliens, and wars galore!
Famines, floods, and terrible diseases!
We flew through the sky,
and skimmed across oceans!
Some say we went to the moon!
Some say we only made movies
of such impossible tasks.

We had thinking machines
that lacked all emotion.
So we fed 'em our relationships
and too often used them to make our choices.
These computers

though surprisingly swift
were hopelessly daft

in too many aspects
(though they could beat us at chess).
We shared everything with them,
even though they spied on us -
so many never minded.
We informed, amused, and connected ourselves
through Skynet.
Social media made us anti-social.
We savaged those we'll never know

as newbies, libtards, nazis,

snowflake, alt-right, patriarchy,

soyboy, commie, radfem, cis-het,

cuck, terf, fascist, normies —
every label an insult! —
and wondered why our off-line

relationships suffered.

Religion salved the masses and
kept them in shackles —
Though some saw the light

and used their keys
to unfetter their invisible chains,
for they found the righteous path

lies inward.

Government -
ah! That complex byzantine monstrosity —
when not the single mind!
It took over the world and consigned

us to ten thousand impossible laws

with no end of corruption —

and enlightenment —
whichever was born in

the hearts of men.
They claimed separation of church

and state — though it is impossible

to remove the mind

or the soul

from the simplest equation.
Vast conspiracies came to light.
Titans among men fell as
new powers surfaced, and the

world was made once again,
in the split image of man.

And did I mention the aliens?!
So many aliens! Greyliens,
Xenomorphs, Lyrans, Pliedians,

Vulcans, Klingons, Annunaki,

Reptilians, Ewoks, Martians,
Gungans, buggers, piggies, Time-lords,
Cylons, Pscyhlons, The Sheen, The Borg,
Andromedans, Blue Avians, Tall Blondes...

Some are mere children's toys:
the small ambitions of would-be world-builders.
Others are real — I swear it!
They slink about, shape-shift,
and too often hide in false light
as they fed on our smaller emotions.
I don't know that I ever met a one -
though I assume there were

a couple dozen encounters.
There were saint angels too!
Dressed as men, they traipse along

the streets unseen, and reveal

themselves only
to the spiritually clean.

I admit, much of this is hear-say -
words whispered between intimate friends

as I dropped by with a plate of nachos,
another round of PBRs and a check
for my services - all the while
I eavesdrop on matters that

do not concern me.

Yet, I live here too,
in this strange world,
so much of it unseen and unknown.
I have harbored hypocrisy

and told no few that

the body-snatchers have programmed

Manchurian candidates to take over

the other guy's party —

never to see all the ways

I too am compromised,
with fear harbored in my

heart, like ships looking for

calm water after plundering

our better selves.
Oh what a mess we were —

and what a time to be alive!