The Future Child Poem by David Welch

I will tell the tale of what happened then,
how ruin came upon this world of men,
what we did to fight it, and how that worked,
what we can do now to escape this hurt.

There's not many left,10,000 or so,
there were billions a century ago,
until the phage plague devastated Earth,
it's basically a contagious cancer.

It came out of China, born in a lab,
a bioweapon they wanted to have,
like Corona before, it somehow ‘leaked, '
and very quickly fresh victims did seek.

Socialism kills, this time it killed all,
slowly but surely we watched people fall,
China died fist, it took them twenty years,
then spread through the world, to everyone's fear.

The scientists tried, received all the funds,
no stone left unturned, but naught could be done,
we slowed the progression, but nothing more,
death was three years of absolute horror.

The birth rates fell, and the technology too,
a century gone and we were too few
to sustain modern civilization,
those left faced a dark age and damnation.

But amidst those who had immunity
was a physicist named Armand McGee,
he had a way to make this unravel,
not with medicine, but with time travel!

Yes, that old chestnut, born out of scifi,
but this man was genius, and we realized
that it was possible, strange as it seemed,
we could now undo this horrible dream.

We scavenged the wreckage of our lost world,
found what tech was left, and the plan unfurled,
but problems emerged in the testing phase,
time travel proved tough to people of age.

Four people went back and four people died
within a week of reaching the other side,
it seemed the solutions lay with the youth,
those under twelve could survive going through.

There were countless orphans, some volunteered,
we selected out the best from their peers,
taught them what to say, to explain all this,
the choice we settled on? A young man named Chris.

Chris was just ten, but had great memory,
his parents were lost, so he was free to leave,
we gave him documents to prove our case,
used the machine to send him through time and space.

When Chris went back, people thought him insane,
they searched for his parents, did so in vain,
but when he said things that he couldn't know
the government came, away he did go.

When he told his tale there was much debate,
some said ‘lock him up, ' while others said ‘wait, '
scientists ran tests, knew not what it meant,
it finally attracted the president.

Janelle Hayes was president in those days,
second woman to lead the fifty states,
a career-driven woman, quite well read,
she listened to Chris, all the words he said.

It seemed so insane, the things he did speak,
but Janelle was smart, and realized quickly
that what this kid knew could not be a joke,
if there was no change, there would be no hope.

But if you know the future then you can act,
Janelle could set things on another track,
she knew of the lab, and what was coming,
but sadly we had overlooked something.

You see, Janelle Hayes was just forty-six,
and deep-down regretted not having kids,
as she talked with Chris, who was so alone,
feelings started growing, like none she'd known.

The maternal instinct, so long suppressed,
led her to adopt the time-displaced Chris,
the public knew nothing of what was to come,
just though their leader had got a new son.

It was quite a story, played on the news,
no favorability points did she loose,
and to her credit, she did love the boy,
amidst politics he was her great joy.

But as I said Janelle Hayes was quite smart,
now her mind was pitted against her heart,
she knew the dark future, but knew that Chris
without that future would not now exist.

Which meant if she worked to make a change
the future she'd build would not be the same,
which meant that her son would never appear,
the one she loved most would no longer be there.

I wish I could say she made the right choice,
but if she had I could not give this voice,
the love for her son proved greater in time,
Janelle chose him over all of mankind.

The plague ran it's course, it all happened again,
the same endless death of men and women,
new memories of this time-loop arose
in all of our minds, it was quite a blow.

We have enough fuel for just one more trip,
and I'll say that I volunteered for it;
yes, it will kill me, but I do not care,
we know where the lab is, I'm going there.

Some say it may mean war, China had nukes,
there's a risk to that, it's a real truth,
but doing nothing just leads to our end,
love undermined us, now there's just violence…