It did not cohere that well to begin with
Not that there was a definite beginning
A thousand-year Reich
Or a lousy ten-thousand or twenty
Wadya wanna live forever said the sergeant

Each gazes at the loveliness of the other
The first man first woman
Or bodies of whatever shape
The hundred-billionth embodiment
Of beauty that never dies

A small child croons over the people
Whom she moves about on the floor
They run errands pick up the mail crash their cars
Words never spoken before
For the million-billionth time