Poem: Ozymandias Dreamt in Blu-Ray

[Joseph Armstead]

Ozymandias Dreamt in Blu-Ray
by Joseph Armstead


The sound of a million voices
raised in confusion, raised in wonder,
raised in anger, raised in prayer,

scatter

like beads of fallen mercury
to roll across the desert sands,
pathways to Giza, Luxor, Cairo,
and Alexandria,
home to antiquity and myth,
kingdom of the pharoahs,
pyramidal necropolii
dotting an arid landscape,
baking under the fiery glare
of an unblinking solar eye,
next-generation optical disc,
waiting for the Summoning,
for the Call,
waiting for the Sacred,
for a Benediction
from a polytheistic overworld
of New Gods, the pantheon
of the IMF, Microsoft, Oracle,
Exxon-Mobile, CitiBank,
Daimler-Chrysler
Coca-Cola
and McDonald's,

waiting

as the orchestra of voices gather,
venting their passions, like Opera,
"Look, Ye Unworthy, upon my works, and know
this high-definition storage media format
will spread the glory
of the blue-violet laser
across the face of Heaven,
searing the tears of the Mighty!"

The sound of a million voices
raised in confusion, raised in wonder,
raised in anger, raised in prayer,
scatter
across a boundless plain,
an ocean of charred and barren grit
stretching into a Future where
the Kalashnikov assault rifle
is the scepter of Paradise.