We rose high above     the meadow    and then drifted    over the forest Black and green    

with the rare shining   yellow jewels   that were the streetlamps

I must

the man continued

be the father Of this baby that’s not a baby

It is some sort of   a future To come   or something     I can’t know    

Because I’m dead I don’t know anything now

But I know it’s the future because I see the nuclear destruction

the rubble all around us I see the streets & houses   crumbling

I see the  pylons and towers     the petrol stations smashed     the trains smashed into mangled red lines

I see the empty cities

The cities that died In their hundreds of millions

Or billions

Or trillions Or more I don’t know,

I can’t know but it’s all gone been swept away

All the teeth & noses & eyes & lips

But you are not dead I know that

You are not even born

You are going to grow up in the 21st Century on a remote Pacific island

where you are going to be delightful to everyone around you

Everyone who’s around you is going to like you or maybe even love you

Because of your smile So big and charming

So delightful

That it will break their hearts

You’ll never know me

the baby you are

will never know the baby I was

In any way At all

Or have any kind of Connection to Me at all Except that we have the same smile

The smile that Every single person

Who sees you will like

Or maybe love