The Year is 2072

And the rich have cheated death

Donald Trump is still serving his second term 

Taylor Swift changed music genres… again

And is now a #1 billboard artist in hip-hop and R&B

Elon Musk took over Instagram 

And Tiktok and Netflix 

They’re all just called X

They lowered the draft age to 14

Guns are now fashion accessories 

That you can purchase in any color and any size 

To fit your aesthetic

Target practice is offered 

As a middle school elective

The volcano in Yellowstone erupted

But most of us moved east 

Just in time to avoid radiation 

The conspirators have not pushed back 

Against this mask mandate yet

Artificial intelligence outnumbers humans 3:1

They run factories 

And retail stores

And restaurants

The humans that are left have forgotten 

How to talk to one another

Book bans moved beyond high schools

They are now forbidden in bookstores and libraries

There are more laws against queer people 

Than there are queer people left 

And all this to say 

My wife and I are 78

And I still make her coffee every morning 

With just a splash of oat milk

Because AI can never get it quite the way she likes

We hide our books beneath the floorboards

Memorize the way the pages feel 

Under our wrinkled fingers

We call this love 

Knowing it is a quiet form of rebellion 

We still hold hands in the street 

Because we grew up in the pride era 

We read our travel journal like a daily devotional

And after all these years 

We have not allowed the record player 

To collect even a speck of dust 

The dog is 53

So I guess you could say

We figured out a way to cheat death

I promise her I’ll find her in the next life

We’ll bump into each other on a Tuesday

Spilling coffee on an armful of books

She’ll say hello

And I’ll say thank god I finally found you