20TH CENTURY MAN

BY

NINA C. FULFORD

I have glided with the Shark
That cruises silent in the deep,
In a world beneath the Ocean
Where voices cannot speak.

* I have marked the endless fathoms
Of a land forever free,
And walked within a dome
Beneath the edges of the Sea.

* I have used it for a battleground
And stained the blue with red,
Then filled its lanes with commerce
To keep the Nations fed.

* I have compassed it with daring
And I know its every tide
That keeps pace around this planet
With our Moon; its brilliant bride.

* I have plunged beneath its Polar Cap
Where once man dared not go,
To look with awe on corridors
Of frozen ice below.

* I have honoured it and cursed it
For the hold it has on me:
The lifesblood of my people;
The mighty, ancient Sea.

* These things I�ve done with hardship
In the building of Gods plan;
So remember me with kindness;
I am 20th Century Man.

* I have spread my skirts of concrete
'Till their hems are flowing wide,
And my cities blend together
In an ever growing tide.

* I have raped the mighty mountains
Of the ores they held within,
And from this demons mating
Came a world of steel and tin.

* I have built a blockhouse cradle
Where I birthed my metal child,
And it grew into the girders
Of a city that�s gone wild.

* I have peopled it with midgets
Unaware of what I am
As they scurry through the labyrinth
Of life�s eternal scam.

* I have threaded double ribbons
Made of asphalt through it all;
Linking backwoods with Metropolis-
And holding both in thrall.

* I have wedded glass and plastic
So you�ll never find the seam
'Till you�ve found the way to kill it
With your hatred of my dream.

* These things I�ve done in blindness
of the knowledge of Gods plan;
So remember me with kindness;
I am 20th Century Man.

* I have tired of the cities
Where my mind was never free,
And by the thousands we deserted;
Looking for what could not be.

* I have listened to the snowflake
In an empty barren waste,
Where the Polar Bears who met me
Turned away and left in haste.

* I have trudged between the mountains
In the shadow of the Moon,
Where I pitched my tent in silence
Broken only by the loon.

* I have wandered with my crying
For a hope that never dies;
Of a soul that lives in freedom
From the hatred and the lies.

* I have cursed the land forever
By my stupid, selfish ways,
And I�ve robbed my childrens future
In the fullness of their days.

* I have found within the stillness
When my mind was all alone;
That I couldn�t leave forever
The nursery I had known.

* These things I�ve done in seeking
Of the knowledge of Gods plan;
So remember me with kindness:
I am 20th Century Man.

* I have shattered natures secrets
And no longer live earthbound.
With my wings I tear the fabric
Of the sheath of air with sound.

* I have drifted with the winds
And forced my way against the stream
That has marked my cursed passing,
With an agonizing scream.

* I have pierced the night with metaleye
To probe the great unknown
That lies beyond my reach until
My wisdom�s fully grown.

* I have struggled like a fledgeling
That is learning how to fly,
And my heart is set on breaking
Through the window of the sky.

* I have hurled my tiny pinheads
At the mysteries out in space
And I�m waiting for an answer
From another Starbound race.

* I have set my heart on Heaven;
I will be content no more;
Till the depths of night are riven
And I stand at Heavens door.

* If this I do in future
In the fullness of Gods plan,
Then you�ll know that in my glory,
I was- 20th CENTURY MAN!