Richard Brautigan

On Science Friday this week, we’re talking with the author of Robopocalypse, a new science fiction thriller about, well, the robot apocalypse. Interspersed throughout the novel are short epigraphs drawn from literature and history, and one in particular caught my eye.

The author, Daniel H. Wilson, excerpts a part of Richard Brautigan’s poem, “All Watched Over,” which presents a more peaceful view of what the impending robot takeover might look like. Here is the poem in its entirety. Enjoy.

“All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”
by Richard Brautigan

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.