Immortality, Free Sample
It arrived by registered mail
in a plain brown wrapper.
The enclosed note indicated
I had been selected
as one of the chosen few
to sample immortality
by taking the attached pill.
If I liked the sample I could
make immortality permanent.
The idea was so exciting that
I actually danced around the room
for the first time in decades.
But, of course,
I swallowed the pill.
In the blink of an eye
I was in a future time unknown.
It was I for sure.
As I checked myself out
it was clear I was the
same old man.
Glasses, dental bridge
and hearing aids still needed.
I picked up the newspaper
and the headlines read
about the same
as the time I came from.
Murder, war, corruption
and scandals.
I quickly ended my visit
to immortality.
I want no part of living forever
with mankind the same and
being too old for
the challenge of changing things.
So if you want to interest
me in immortality,
either I am young and vital
or mankind will have been perfected.
January 2, 2010
Doug Minnis