By Jemima Pereira (webmaster@jemimap.cjb.net)
© May 2001
Codes: 7, filk
Rating: G
Series: Star Trek: Voyager
Award: ASC Awards, 2001 Voyager Poem or Filk (2nd place)
award graphic

A filk of "Yesterday, When I was Young".

This parody is protected as such by the copyright laws of the United States of America. Original English lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer.

Yesterday, when I was Borg
The universe belonged to our immortal horde;
Perfection was our goal, technology the path
And never was there fear, or sin or guilt or wrath.

We took what we would take, we saved whom we would save
From small, forgotten lives, from sorrow and the grave;
Ten thousand species found, so many more to free
From primal, chafing bonds of personality.

Yesterday, when I was Borg
This drone was one small part of that vast, ruthless corps.
The common dreams we dreamt, the perfect glories planned,
And thought in harmony - all slipping from my hand.

I watched the small and weak from safe within a cube
And never thought my own mortality to rue;
An enemy too great, an ally small and torn,
A victory that left one drone alone to mourn...

Yesterday, the cube was green -
A million burning suns still waiting to be seen,
A billion comrade eyes through which this drone could see
But now there's just the cold and dark of only me.

Today I am alone, in silence ringing loud
A human now and weak, who was a drone and proud -
A child of mortal man, a part of no great Whole,
Of warm and living flesh, but cold and narrow soul.

There are so many sights invisible to eyes
So separate and dim, so single and unwise;
I never more shall see what I saw yesterday
When I was Borg.