WHAT WILL THEY CONCLUDE


A thousand years from now
When that country
Whatever her name
Upturns the earth and examines our remains
What will they conclude
Will they discern old antebellum
Or feel the steam of the Teapot Dome
Will they say that distant jungle war
Was a turning point
riots in the streets
Will they say it was a series of stops
And starts
Of great attempts by an ungreat people
Of small thoughts in big brains
Will they conclude that the efforts here
Were mirror images of those we ourselves
Upturned and studied
Or conclude that ours was but a duplication
Of those unworthy of imitation
Will they teach that Egypt Babylon and Greece
Were greatAnd Rome greater still
Will they say that ours was an abysmal failure
An obvious loss of will
Will they smell the corruption in the leaders
See the sheep who knew more than the shepherds
Feel the frustration of the endless wars

What will they conclude
Will they feel the boiling blood of dreams
turned to ice and inwards screams
Or taste the bitterness of fleeing hope
That decays the bones with corrosions of dope
Will they feel the eye upon them
That creates paranoid shadows
Or feel the panels on their backs
with the buttons being pressed
Are they going to soak from the tears
Of automated babies who move to the tune
of remote control crazies
Will they think that we hated life
because of the birth control device
Or that we worshipped dogs
because of the poodle parlors on the corners
I wonder
A thousand years from now
When that country
Whatever her name
Upturns the earth and examines our remains
What will they conclude