Y2K (With a boot from Joel 2.0)
Y2K
(With a boot from Joel 2.0)
At the horizon with the next millennium
a cloud of locusts, digits clawing,
maxilla gnawing,
is threatening to devour
the ecumenical power
of electronic universal medium.
The feared Locusta Cpudemisia,
its common name a cryptic 'Y2K',
next century's first day
will threaten cybernation,
may crunch communication,
replacing memory with blank amnesia.
Technopriests are uttering imprecations,
chanting line by line from their tautology.
Dire eschatology
their diviners' dream.
Apocalypse the theme
of their warning of a time of tribulation.
Will records of acquaintance be forgot
as Auld Lang Syne falls silent in a night
of terrifying fright?
Will power interruptions
cause pestilent eruptions
as nine-eleven comes to double nought?
Will hieroglyphs in black magnetic bars,
decode a crisis of identity,
producing mass insanity?
Will assets disappear
and poverty loom near,
while technobabblers gabble from afar?
Church and chapel quaver a capella?
Breathless, pipe and flute stand mute?
The needy destitute
with deacon funds depleted?
The house of God unheeded
as gremlins preach their hell-fired cabala?
The Y2K millennium bug strikes fear;
a spectre never seen in days of old.
A bombing run so bold,
defenders' faces pale
as all deterrents fail
to halt its aerial swift sword from coming near.
The Church cannot rewrite the chain reaction
that breeds the assault in cipher space
on every database.
Her only implement
a God-tuned instrument,
her trumpet, sounding Zion's sure protection.
Above the battle with a breached technology,
Zion's clarion call soars high and pure.
Her people will endure
the rage of Y2K.
For also in that day
they will be writing "Anno Domini".
First
published in "CHRISTIAN RENEWAL"
A Magazine
of Reformed Faith and Vision
September
21, 1998