Thread by @TheRealDoctorT

The following is by Nick Drake @nickfdrake. It is timely. Urgent.

“The Future.”

Dear mortals,
I know you are busy with your colourful lives;
You grow quickly bored
And detest moralizing.
I have no wish to waste the little time that remains
On arguments and heated debates.

1/

I wish I could entertain you
With some magnificent propositions and glorious jokes;
But the best I can do is this:

I haven’t happened yet; but I will.

I am the future, but before I appear
Please
Close the scrolls of information,
Let the laptop
Sleep,

2/

Sit still
And shut your eyes.
Listen
Things are going to change -
Don’t open your eyes, not yet! -
I’m not trying to frighten you.

Think of me not as a wish or a nightmare
But as a story you have to tell yourselves

3/

Not with an ending
In which everyone lives happily ever after,
Or a B-movie apocalypse,

But maybe starting with the line
'To be continued...'

And see what happens next.

Remember this; I am not
Written in stone
But in time -

4/

So please don't shrug and say
What can we do?
It's too late, etc, etc, etc.

Dear mortals,
You are such strange creatures
With your greed and your kindness,
And your hearts like broken toys;

You carry fear with you everywhere
Like a tiny god
In its box of shadows.

5/

You love shopping and festivals
And good food.
You love to dance
In the enchantment of time
Like angels in a forest of mirrors.

Your lives are held
In the beautiful devices
Familiar in your hands.

And perhaps you lie to yourselves
Because you’re afraid of the dark.

6/

So always remember
We are in this together,

Face to face and eye to eye.
I hold you in my hands
As I am held in yours.

We are made for each other.

Now - open your eyes
And tell me what you see.

(By @nickfdrake, a letter to us from the Earth. Time is all we have, or don’t.)