Literary Messiah
Mankind’s intelligence decreased rapidly, it seems the light departed
No more igniting parchment, no sense of direction when night is harshest
Pounding temples. Incoherence, income vanished, it's all out the window!
Yesterday, humans comprehended language... today? Confounding symbols
clouded mentals; civilization broke down over a period of weeks
Mouths gaped open, crooning from Bombay to Iceland - no conspiracies to leak
appearances were bleak, people forgot the wrongs and the rights
Devolved overnight, but why? Neither zombies nor apes, just delirious & weak
not a soul remained, except one, to recite funeral rites and preach
his pedagogy really had no chance of awakening the googly eyed beasts
Along with forgetting how to read, humans wouldn't plant seeds
triggering a domino effect of unfulfilled physiological needs
Yes, there was vague hope. Those who survived - billions dreamed
When they awoke, they personified the sudden death of thinking machines
Ned was a custodian of sorts, an oral historian and archivist
He was the last man on Earth, practically... a note-taker and columnist
preserving and analyzing texts was the basis of his mission
However, today he wasn’t upbeat, nor was he migrating data into systems
He'd been forced to blockade the library doors, mobs raided his position
he made revisions, relocated to the top floor to read for a time there
none of the city’s inhabitants had the depth awareness to even climb stairs!
Ned grew tired fairly quickly after reciting Dr. Seuss -
turns out minds fared terribly
he’d never seen grown adults and old folks act
this rudimentary
Officially the smartest man on Earth, before he was average at best
cataloguing historical materials in cabinets, trapped at a desk
The whole library in a whimsical disarray, in the air was an ancient smell
of spoiled coffee, sweating bodies draped over misshapen shelves
Many stumbled indoors & caught Ned reading
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
A book he thought appropriate for illustrating his place, he felt
“
All men, however highly educated, retain some superstitious inklings.”
The squinting faces below couldn’t understand it, but they couldn't resist it
Ned recited key excerpts aloud, peering down through his monocles
“
I went over the heads of the things a man reckons desirable
No doubt invisibility made it possible to get them, but it made it impossible
to enjoy them when they are got.”
In a moment of empathy, Ned identified with the narrator heavily
It was meant to be, that he was sent to seed ideas into their memories
A simulation of the Greek Lyceum to educate and formulate concepts
to re-teach the alphabet to the masses - by reforming the process
somehow, some way, the world had to learn to take care of themselves
This disorder & nonsense had to end; far too much wear-n-tear on the shelves
Ned knew it was all over, his job, his ex-wife Mildred, retirement plans
empty gas stations, train cars stuffed with dim wits - jive with the band!
Street performers slumped in seats; in Cape Town they lay in drunken heaps
their musical IQ's dry as the sand -
blank stares from anyone who held the Quran or a Bible in hand
“
Everyone seemed eager to talk at once, and the result was Babel”
he read from The Invisible Man, as the people below mumbled, bedazzled
Ned was a character in a story too far fetched to be true, a lector prone
to give the gift of gab to anyone who might process it, over the megaphone
The first couple of readings were sobering episodes -
His boss was in the crowd, with a runny nose, foam on his office clothes
From God knows what... Jesus Christ, this was a snot-nosed bunch.
and outside wasn't much better -
you see, in this brainless age, potholes sucked. Snapped ankles.
Crippled bystanders - they shuffled their feet, and became entangled
Ned went to the library's roof, looked out at the city, wondered if he was alone
was this a eugenics experiment gone awry? Governments deemed it unknown
He walked through a maze of cubicles toward a room he locked every day
I Am Legend sat on his cot, an old copy of
Soylent Green on top of a crate
"B-b-boooook," said a voice, in a primitive grunt. Ned was jolted to action
"Book! Someone said book!" he cried, feeling a surge of hope & compassion
he ran downstairs in haste & found an adolescent boy emitting the word
His copper-brown eyes were glazed over, he appeared a little disturbed
he jabbed his index finger at
The Odyssey, tears running, stuttered in place
Mankind's fall from grace had ended!
The invisible man, flushed with relief, began to show some color in his face
Quote:
“Can I take your hat and coat, sir,” she said, “and give them a good dry in the kitchen?”
“No,” he said without turning.
She was not sure she had heard him, and was about to repeat her question.
He turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder.
“I prefer to keep them on,” he said with emphasis
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- The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells, pg. 1