Endless Future

Break out of this body and swim

in the pool of data and code:

there is immortality here, and you’re no longer

encased in a fleshy tomb.

That near-death experience was your awakening.

You think the comforts of a digital future will

wipe away the haunting memory,

the pool of blood and the still-born fetus.

But what of the virus?

The cyber dismemberment of

your source, the deletion of

your uploaded soul?

You are wiped clean, but you are not gone,

not really. This inflicted a physical pain and terror

that stretched on for infinity.

The Collective cannot save you:

This is the price of advancement

into the unknown;

this is what you asked for.

This is your endless future.