"Rise of the Damned"

by Tucker (John Taylor)

And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on, and so did I.
        --Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"


I.

See them.
Feel them.
They are the damned.

They have no life no will no expression
no meaning
They are the damned.

Lives like clockwork,
oranges after the juicing.
Damned.

Dragging themselves through the hollow streets
with hollow souls
unchanging existence infinite

They are the damned.


II.

Welcome to the Machine.
Keep the tickertape rolling
keep the axles greased
keep the gears grinding

Learn to do your job
and nothing else
and keep the Machine alive
for the Machine is all that matters.

Don't think.  It hurts performance.
Be as us.  Be perfect.

Damned?
What an absurd idea.


III.

They grow.
They prosper.
They are the damned.

Look around you, all you see
are vacant eyes.  Alas!
The eyes of the damned.

Nothing to be done.
Nothing really matters
to the damned.

One by one
the young and inspired
file into the ranks
and become damned.

And when finally
there are none left

then the winter of our discontent
shall give spring and summer a miss
and go straight on into autumn.

SIC TRANSIT VITA MVNDI

c. 1997