A Dying Android''s Final Song


    ~


    “The universe is rich with life,” is what they always say


    And I know better than to wish the universe away


    But what nobody tells you, is that though there may be life


    The universe is seeped in an eternity of strife


    The stars are just a thing to wish on, for the ones at home


    But they are nought but graveyards known to us who choose to roam


    To us who travel deep into the galaxy alone


    The worlds beyond our children’s eyes are better left unknown


    I came upon a planet just as any you can find


    I’d seen the remnants of a thousand battles left behind


    But I’ll admit, as dark a world as this one might have been


    It truly was the most majestic world that I have seen


    The ruins told me of a war fought long before our time


    And how the way it ended must have been a bitter crime


    A single, nuclear attack had wiped the whole world out


    With neither side alive to tell me what it was about


    I wandered through the desert of an ancient battlefield


    And saw decrepit androids near the weapons they would wield


    I had grown to see such things as resources to sell


    But something felt a little odd about this ancient hell


    I’d wandered farther from my ship than I normally would


    And getting lost out there at night would hardly do me good


    But when I turned to walk back to my shelter for the night


    I was suddenly aware of one small eerie light


    I couldn’t help but wonder what the light out there could be


    A lonely light that flickered by itself eternally


    Considering how long the world had been completely dead


    All manner of emotions poured into my sleepy head


    Perhaps it was my curiosity that drew me there


    A sense of higher purpose of which I’m still unaware


    It didn’t matter then, and well, it doesn’t matter now


    Something in the light was calling out to me somehow


    And so I came to stand before the broken down machine


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Upon its helm a button which was flashing red and green


    Ignoring every instinct and the many years I trained


    I pushed the button of the android broken down and stained


    It wasn’t like the robots of today, I knew that well


    How it was constructed is impossible to tell


    At first I thought it clunky as it’s lights began to glow


    But in its artificial eyes was something that I know


    Exploring strange new worlds was always something I enjoyed


    But suddenly, the robot seemed a little bit annoyed


    “So tell me, ancient android, what has happened to this place”


    I asked of it, with childish glee upon my weary face


    “A human, from another world, I shouldn’t be surprised


    Your species always was much stronger than we realized”


    It almost sounded like the android sighed, but I was shocked


    How could it be I knew its language when the android talked


    “I can’t believe you know of humans, we’ve never been here”


    I Will admit, at that point, I was overcome with fear


    “My people only left our world a century ago


    And all we find are ruined worlds wherever we all go”


    The android’s eyes grew redder, but they calmed back down in time


    I understood its craftsmanship was utterly sublime


    “Of course the universe is filled with only death and pain


    Your ancestors touched every world, and brought them only pain”


    “But I don’t understand how humans could have done all this


    In history class, such a war is not something I’d miss”


    “I shouldn’t be surprised at humans’ short lived memory


    They only ever cared for killing anything they see


    My people were not always androids, but we paid the price


    We lost to humans once, and we refused to give in twice


    We almost finished off your species, many years ago


    If judging by the stars, a million years back or so


    But here you stand before me, as my body rusts away


    Unaware of all your kind accomplished on that day


    The cultures of this galaxy all wiped away at once


    The only ones surviving, sent me back this little dunce”


    I stepped away and thought upon the overwhelming tale


    Had ancient humans really gone so far only to fail


    And how could such a history have disappeared from lore


    I doubt a single person ever heard of it before


    Before I had a chance to ask the android one last thing


    The moment slipped away as I was caught hesitating


    The android’s secrets died along with its old power cell


    And any hope of learning more about it died as well


    I looked for many years upon that ancient world alone


    But I could spend no longer running from the life I’d known


    The world was truly dead, no information had survived


    No books or old computers told of those who once had thrived


    I went back to my life, collecting scraps and things to sell


    But still I longed to know the stories all those scraps could tell


    Until this day, I’ve never told a single soul this fact


    For I could never guess how my whole species would react


    Before I die, I felt at least a single soul should know


    About the words I heard that day, but now I have to go


    I might just join that android out there in the stars somewhere


    So let this knowledge die with me, or use it, if you dare


    ~