The Changing of the Guard

They had briefed us out by Sirius

Before the stellar war

When the Rogons and Teresans

Blasted atoms at the core;

And the by-station called Sargon was

Left glowing in the night

As a lesson to us Lidyans:

‘Defy us - and we fight!’

 

It was known among the planets

Scattered twenty parsecs wide,

That the distant planet Akron

Was abysmal in its pride,

Our infiltrators were Germals,

And they told us, without doubt,

That the scientists on Akron

Were about to blast them out!

 

They had built some great contrivance

In a country known as France,

Blasting protons at each other

Just to see if they could dance,

But the chance of anti-matter being

Spawned is our concern,

We could travel there to stop them,

Or just watch their planet burn.

 

They’re like children in a playpen

Thinking everything is fine,

And they nod and smile at danger

Like a strange but new-laid wine,

But they have no understanding

When they try to act like God,

That creating anti-matter would

Destroy the earth they trod.

 

And the blast would take their planet,

And the blast would take their moon,

It would spread out on its violence in

One single afternoon,

It could gobble up the planets

That revolved around their sun,

And feeding on the solar rays

Might take out everyone!

 

We turned our battle-fleet to course

On through the universe,

Engaged the ion drive and set

The warp to speed our force,

We knew we had to navigate

Out through the Hellyan Maze

And that some would never make it,

Though our years would pass as days!

 

It must be two thousand years since we

Had visited them last,

Found the people raw and primitive,

No sense of peace, nor class,

So we trained a City State the use

Of armies, skilled and hard,

And we left them there, the Romans

As the one Praetorian Guard!

 

But the Germals lived beside them

And they measured every move,

Would report at each millennium

If things did not improve,

Then they built this great Collider

With their puny science skills,

And they laughed at the doomsayers, said:

‘It’s ignorance that kills!’

 

So we’re coasting in there slowly now

And through the Milky Way,

A thousand nuclear battlecraft,

There’s not much more to say;

We must, before their folly

Leaves them permanently scarred

Make our way to planet Akron

For the Changing of the Guard!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Dayran]

An experimental theatre with facts, carefully researched to form a layman's perspective. Its great always to say, we can try and continue trying at the level of gifted geniuses. For instance, if light travels around corners, it might relate to the human prerogative on issues, and I'll be seeing myself in the distant horizon, not the back of my head.

Matter and anti-matter is serious stuff. Is Mars in the stage of formation or recovery from a previous anti-matter incident? Yes, its possible to stretch all ideas. Frankly, I prefer to do that with a salary scale, don't you?

Still, I must confess....that this is the first time I've seen a Captain Ahab rise from the bottom of a ship. I thought you were dead. Nice write!

[...]

A whole different feel...still...brilliant!

[Amila Jay]

Awesome write :))

[Cliff Rhodes]

Very nice, and yes I wonder about the CERN Collider Project too. The Earth is just a warm star, after all. Its interior is molten just like the Sun ,and what would it take to just start the engine again and change from cooling to ignited? You have given us things to think about and very poetic too.

[Valentine]

A different type of writning than I am used to from you..but well written never the less..love and God bless Lyn and you..Kathie

[Tate Morgan]

A great thought on a subject yet to be broached in most circles Should we just just because we can?

[Lena M. P.]

This reminds me of a book I just read called Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbards (which I hear was also made it a movie). Scary thought that we may be the infant race in a galaxy where there are beings much more advanced than us and they can wipe us out if they don't like what we are doing. However, it is easy enough to believe what with Easter Island, the circles of stone and the pyramids there may have been an alien force here at one time growing our race to help advance them further like scientist experimenting on a species of animals. Your poem gave me chills. A different take for you going forward instead of backwards in time.

[roarke]

if only.... what's taking them so long? hahahaahaha

Science fiction? That's a new twist, It's interesting, although in one perspective probably prudent, that any major exploration always included some number of military escort or intention, so why not space as well?

I share a similar opinion, science fiction or otherwise, it's good to see it in rhyming prose. More of that lost oral tradition.