More Lines Anyway, Just in Case

Seeing how past inscriptions
Outlasted the collapses
Of their civilizations,

There’s been a vogue, recently,
For time capsules and seed banks,
Salt-mine archives, black boxes,

Gleaming Clocks of the Long Now
Firmly bolted underground,
Gold discs in space, whole islands

Given over to storage
Of everything important
To know. What if it turns out

There’s no one left or no one
Who still really wants to know?