These are sapphic stanzas. They are quite hard to do.
Someone on Radio 4 was talking about the scientific endeavor to find the secret to eternal life. Seems kind of unwise…
Back then, our mortality gave us nightmares
Knowing we were fallible, had a shelf life.
Each gray hair, each laughter line would remind us
Death’d come someday
First we tried denial, made dyes and lotions
“Fight the signs of aging!” the adverts promised.
All except the principle sign of aging:
Death’d still take us.
But some creatures never die. We discovered
Ancient trees, and jellyfish with the secret
Constant cell renewal! The great elixir!
We could unlock it!
Years of patient studying cells and cultures
We ignored the ethical implications
So determined were we to have the secret
Death’d be vanquished.
And we did it. Humans can live for ever!
One slight change in chromosomes. One injection.
Age shan’t wither anyone. We’re immortal.
Death’s obsolete, now.
No such thing as menopause, no more wrinkles!
Noone looks much older that twenty seven.
No more kids, though. Nobody parents, these days –
Cannot afford to.
There’s no room for any more human beings.
No-one dies, so nobody can be born now.
Stuck in an eternal, unaging peer group:
Death’d be welcome.
Tom Juniper Poetry 