if you’re going to spend
all of your life in a space ship
the urge to walk barefoot in the
grass or rush naked into
the sea
might never occur to you.
by the time your offspring are
conceived in a plastic tube &
gestated in a microwave
you’ll have a body that will
never be undressed &
a soul, perhaps, without a fleshy
heart.
once you’re so bionic that new
parts will function you forever,
maybe you won’t need anything to
believe in, not poems
not prayers
no need for warmth
on the inside.
o brave children
of the future––
try to keep your human self
alive.
there’s so much to be lost
much to be lost.