In this soulless 21st century
Zombified by design unto captivity
The dopamine that is technocracy
Addicted to mediocrities

Such days of pervasive hypocrisy
Suppressing truth so wickedly and so brutal
Rules for thee, not for me, doublespeak
We know they lie since their lips are moving

And they ain’t stopping for nothing
Unrepentant, unrelenting
Gaining breakneck speed
Fixated with greed, bereft of decency

Raised a child of the 70s
Three or four television stations
Played outside, not behind endless screens
Life sure seemed way less complicated

Now it’s virtual reality
A portal to fantasy
Viral contagion
Spiral out of control into world domination

When the grid goes down – strikes the urban sprawl
When the grid goes down – global collective withdrawal
When the grid goes down – how will we cope?
When the grid goes down – wherein lies your hope?

Opposed the computer till age thirty-five
Supposed it the forerunner to antichrist
Nowadays can’t seem to tear myself away
Praying for drastic measures of escape

In the race to the nadir
It’s not the mushroom cloud vapour
Nor the red button finger twitch
But rather fear the kill switch

When the grid goes down – and all comes to naught
When the grid goes down – this web in which we’re caught
When the grid goes down – via cyber attack
When the grid goes down – the penultimate hack

When the grid goes down – tyranny of urgency
When the grid goes down – net zero ambiguity
When the grid goes down – immoral clarity
When the grid goes down – force you to your knees

Disinformation
Misinformation
Deactivation
Recalibration

A dizzying array of dials, knobs, and levers
A.I. displacing the obsolete beleaguered
Shopping malls, server farms, all in roboticized
To monetize food must be digitized, weaponized

Supply chains collapse
It’s class warfare – lawfare
Riots and chaos ensue right on cue
To the rescue: a new world order

When the grid goes down – emergency broadcast
When the grid goes down – climate apocalypse forecast
When the grid goes down – good reason to suspect
When the grid goes down – nefarious intent

When the grid goes down – assumed we were blessed
When the grid goes down – took it all in jest
When the grid goes down – the systems crash
When the grid goes down – the first will be last

Queue up around the block
Stretch forth your hand, inject the microdot
All your data stored under your skin
Small price to pay to save yourself and all your kin
Connectivity, the Internet of Things
Secure that credit score
Lest you be banished offline
To starve …