One Day

One day perhaps there'll be a storm
on the surface of the sun
Sunspots or some such thing
A ten-times natural phenonemon
that briefly stirs the nuclear soup
of neutrons and electrons
galloping through space
Something we won't even feel
but our micro-chips will know
sending us a final message
that they're sorry, but they quit

One day the lights may well go out
and it won't be Armageddon
At least not in the biblical sense
but out is out
and no light still means darkness
It's possible these wonderful machines
we've built and loved
and snuggled up with
Will slam the door and leave us
like an angry lover
who's cleaned out the house

One day at half past four or five, the car may die
and Charlie won't come home from work
stuck out there somewhere
in a sea of dead cars
cussing and swearing
among his stranded peers
No phone to call home
and he'll kick the doors
swear and loosen his tie
climb over dead metal and walk
A briefcase warrior with no war

One day, someday, computers may go down
Not a momentary inconvenience
not this time
but a foreverness of idle things
Each and every one of us blind-sided
and standing there staring blankly
like stunned quarterbacks
trying to get our minds to clear
First angry that dinner will be late
Then wondering if we'll eat at all
unless we build a fire in the yard

One day, someday, we may all go back
in a ragged, unkempt line
to a life as hunter-gatherers
Bartering our way
and finally talking to the neighbors
The kids will think it's fun at first
when they finally straggle home
on sore feet
laughing at everything that's stopped
like the third sequel
of a B-movie on TV

I leave it to you, to chew on that
and consider how securely
we've bound ourselves to micro-chips
To prove there are still ways to suffer plagues
and the Middle Ages
will seem like a picnic
when all the lights go out
Alarmist you say, it cannot happen
and maybe I agree
and maybe I don't know
And it may well be that no one does