Humans In The Next Era Poem by Ananta Madhavan

A few strides away from the Museum of ancestors anonymous
I amble across autumnal grass to the modest pile wherein is shown
What humans did with all that heritage. Here are key artifacts
Of the industrial era; some exhibits do stun, some look like junk
From sheds where rusted rotors and unsold fans are dumped.
The Techno Museum is an awakening.

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Taller than me, the wheels of the locomotive engine
Show me the might of muscular pistons cast in steel
To move the train from slow to fast and streak along
Metal rails to other suburban landscapes far away.
Steam and oil have displaced beloved horses and bullocks;
Electric power has eased our conscience, revealing
How we can stop exploiting beasts, a few of them at least.
We move on.


We have wings and space enough to fly
Beyond horizons, if not galaxies and time zones.
Some of us can understand robotics and laser rays,
We know how we can end the race in many ways,
Blasting the earth along with us to the last Black Hole.


At the Science Centre they do not tell us
Who or what will replace us. We only know
That high-tech must embrace the creed of Reason.
We need faith in some Omnipotence,
Or Omniscience that cares for us as humans.


Railway wheels rolled on and on because
Some inventor doubted the scheme of things
And insisted on test and trial, proposal and proof.
We cannot guess if robotics and lasers will
Consign us to oblivion or some museum of
The Origin of the Human Species, Mark 3.


We have had our hour, our innings or chapter;
None will remember our fun and frolic. But I know
That we have to believe in logic.
Prove or perish, and to improve this chance.
I hail this faith in reason.