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Number 21

On the eve of a new millennium,
I wondered what to write
About what lays in store
For the morning, noon and night.

Is the future good or bad,
Or something in between?
I wish that God would tell me
In some prophetic dream.

I shall try to guess ahead,
Knowing I'll be wrong.
If you read this in ten years time,
You'll surely laugh along.

Maybe it's the internet
That will lead the way.
Will we use e-commerce
Or simply click and play?

Could globalisation
Become the biggest trend?
Will Coke and MacDonald's
Control us in the end?

Will global warming get us?
Will the seas begin to rise?
Storms and floods could be ahead
But I don't want to die.

Or maybe Solar energy
Will kick out fossil fuels.
With solar panels on my roof
I'd have much lower bills.

Could Jubilee 2000
Herald a new start?
Tiny guys together,
Oceans we could part.

Could nations club together
To stop some heinous wrong?
If this could be accomplished,
I would join the throng.

Will there be new widgets,
Of which we'd never dream?
But once they've been invented,
We must, with them, be seen.

Or could the world be ended
By a nuclear war?
With major water shortages,
I am not quite sure.

Maybe Jesus will return
And put the world to rights.
This would be much better
Than my name put up in lights.

Or will we get devices
Which truly labour save?
Like an automated bathroom,
So I wouldn't need to shave.

Will those in the poor world
Get a better deal?
Maybe we could share with them
So they all have a meal.

Will our food be modified
With a genetic lure?
Or will it be organic?
Fed on fresh manure.

Could we ourselves be modified?
Our DNA be changed?
Eugenics fact not fiction.
Adolf would be pleased.

Or could the future be mundane?
The pace of change slowed down.
At least that way we'd all have time
To stop and look around.

Is the year 2000
Really a new start?
Could we really ever
From the same old ways depart?

Century number 21,
May turn out just the same
As this poor number 20
And that would be a shame.