A Speculative Blush of History
by Michael Doyle

In part, science fiction involves mystery
Other times, speculation about history
What might have been or might well be
Had things only turned out a bit differently

All the casual moments of interpretation
Of events real and in the imagination
From War and Peace to science fiction
Invent perspectives for their depiction

Historical speculation applies deduction
From known sciences to begin reconstruction
Turning the few facts that might be known
Into a story that has become fully grown

Alternative histories are not just pure imagination
But rely on templates of the past and the machination
Of theory mixed with observations from the real past
Used together to formulate a fictive recast

In all the potential outcomes from darkness falling
It is worth considering Mark Twain Yankee calling
For an alternative better world that turned to fright
As modernism is revealed as killing of the knights

Alternative history does not always determine the outcome
It seems a twist of fate that brings man to save God's kingdom
Behold that man and others who travel back to time's direction
To bring about the future by fomenting true connection

In all the layers within these stories it seems to be
That there is no such thing as one real and true history
Parlor games create the illusions that we accept as real
And that's the monstrosity of this alternative deal 

(c) October 28, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved