FOR THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND
Now the zeros are in line
All the goals we have achieved,
Say goodbye to Twenty C
JANUARY:
Living in the plastic age
Everything is digitised
Set controls for heart of sun
FEBRUARY:
All your genes are on display
Many species bite the dust
Man designs his super-self
MARCH:
Half the world has all the food
Wear an artificial skin
Nobody is really dead
APRIL:
Man found naked in the zoo
Left our footprints on the moon
Bury all our waste in holes
MAY:
Now machines are self-aware
Addicts try to cure the blues
Round the world in eighty mins
JUNE:
Mona Lisa is no more
Madame Curie had her fears
Oxygen is now on sale
JULY:
Worldwide power cut today
Hubble sees creation's reach
Ozone layer R.I.P.
AUGUST:
Fifty pounds for Pepsi Can
All your wealth is stored in bytes
Ancient relic found in sea
SEPTEMBER:
There goes one more secret sect
"Antichrist" by name of Khan
Au Revoir to Eiffel Tower
OCTOBER:
Fusion power in your car
Dinosaurs are on the loose
Where have all the flowers gone?
NOVEMBER:
Weather experts lead the field
Parliament is in the drink
All you touch and all you see
DECEMBER:
Your goose is cooked; it's overdone
EPILOGUE:
A hundred years of blood and lust
© Elwood Herring 5 April 1994
(Dedicated to a good friend Lee Hall (1960 – 1994) who was looking forward to it)
PROLOGUE:
Look at what we leave behind
In the century of the blind
What our senses have perceived -
We would never have believed
Look towards the century
Signpost says prosperity... For the year Two Thousand.
Mobile phones are all the rage
Nobody can tell your age
All your senses sensitised -
Can you tell the truth from lies?
Beatles back at number one
Everybody owns a gun... In the year Two Thousand.
Change your face in just one day
I think I'll be white today
Replication is a must
Now the genome has been sussed
Leaves diseases on the shelf
Money buys you perfect health... By the year Two Thousand.
Talk is cheap - but don't be rude
Winston Smith is being viewed
Keeps your vital organs in
Serves you right for breathing in
Pack the rich in ice and lead
Turn the dial to Absol. Z... Till the year Two Thousand.
Chimpanzee says "How d'you do?"
Who's the fool now - him or you?
Might still get back up there soon
When we all run out of room
Leave it for our kids to solve
We have more important goals... For the year Two Thousand.
Robots have replaced Dan Dare
No need to go anywhere
More designer drugs to choose
Pick the wrong one, and you lose
Drive in and confess your sins
Homeless kids in plastic bins... In the year Two Thousand.
Someone left it on the floor.
Never mind - there's plenty more.
Pripyat and Chernobyl tears
Deadly for twelve thousand years
Nobody has saved the whale
Butter mountains all gone stale... By the year Two Thousand.
Blame it on (the scientists say)
Heisenberg and Faraday.
All the knowledge you can teach
Won't translate to human speech
Ultra-Violet's victory
Stay in, watch your M.T.V... Till the year Two Thousand.
Queen Mum gets a telegram
Whole world owned by just one man
Hypodermics save your sight -
That eclipse was much too bright
Denied religious warranty
Possibly a recipe... For the year Two Thousand.
Nostradamus proved correct
What on earth did you expect?
Elected in Afghanistan
(May be just a false alarm.)
Hit by that freak meteor shower
See God demonstrate His power... In the year Two Thousand.
Spaceship heads for nearest star
Paranoia travels far.
Scientists have no excuse
Putting knowledge to abuse
Haven't seen one since that bomb
Common sense has been and gone... By the year Two Thousand.
Tell the clouds just when to yield
Mother Nature's fate is sealed
U.S. one big skating rink
Catastrophes are interlinked
Virtual reality
Sit and dream your life away... Till the year Two Thousand.
Beatles still at number one
Aliens in the Pentagon
Read the story in the Sun!
Iraq has a supergun
China fires a bigger one
Mushrooms sprout in Washington
Jesus seen by more than one
Blind with rage at what we've done
There's a dark spot on the sun
Say goodbye to all you've won
World War Three has just begun...
What in God's name have we done?
Is this what we have to come... In the year Two Thousand?
A hundred million lives are lost
Our Brave New World has turned to dust
Now we've made all our mistakes
How much more can this earth take?
Just one more war - for old times' sake...
Now mankind has had its fun
What Revelations are to come
After year Two Thousand One?
