Based on an Actual Dream I had
THe Following is a dream I had last night. Upon waking, I decided that it needed to be shared with everyone
On the fifteenth of May, in the city Tyger Pax,
the stars shone above, the security lax,
He was reading…enjoying Cybertron's great joys…
When Optimus Prime heard a very small noise.
So Prime, he stopped reading. He looked towards the sound.
“That’s funny,” thought Optimus. “There’s no one around.”
Then he heard it again! Just a very faint yelp
As if some tiny person were calling for help.
“I’ll help you,” said Prime. “But who are you? Where?”
He looked and he looked. He could see nothing there
But a small speck of dust blowing past though the air.
“I say!” murmured Optimus. “I’ve never heard tell
Of a small speck of dust that is able to yell.
So you know what I think?…Why, I think that there must
Be someone on top of that small speck of dust!
Some sort of a creature of very small size,
too small to be seen by a Transformer’s eyes…
“…some poor little sentient, who’s shaking with fear
That he’ll blow into nothing! He has no way to steer!
I’ll just have to save him. Because, after all,
A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
So, gently, and using the greatest of care,
The robot stretched his great servo through the air,
And he lifted the dust speck and carried it over
And placed it down, safe, on a very soft roboclover.
“Humpf!” humpfed a voice. Twas Sentinel Prime.
And the twins nearby said "Humpf!" at the very same time
“Why, that speck is as small as the head of a pin.
A person on that?…why, there never has been!”
“Believe me,” said Optimus. “I tell you sincerely,
My sensors are quite keen and I heard him quite clearly.
I know there’s a person down there. And, what’s more,
Quite likely there’s two. Even three. Even four.
Quite likely…
“…a family unit, for all that we know!
A family with protoforms just starting to grow.
So, please,” Optimus said, “as a favour to me,
Try not to disturb them. Just let them be.”
“I think you’re a fool!” laughed Sentinel Prime
And the twins nearby said "us too!" at the same time
"You’re the biggest blame fool in all Cybertron!”
And the Elite Guard stormed from the room anon.
“What terrible manners!” the Autobot said, curt.
“I can’t let my very small persons get hurt!
I’ve got to protect them. I’m bigger than they.”
So he plucked up the clover and hustled away.
Through the high crystal towers, the news quickly spread:
“He talks to a dust speck! He’s out of his head!
Just look at him walk with that speck on the flower!”
And Optimus walked, worrying, almost an hour.
“Should I put this speck down?…” Prime though with alarm.
“If I do, these small persons may come to great harm.
I can’t put it down. And I won’t! After all
A person’s a person. No matter how small.”
Then Optimus stopped walking.
The speck-voice was talking!
The voice was so faint he could just barely hear it.
“Speak up, please,” Said Optimus. He put his audio near it.
“My friend,” came the voice, “you’re a very fine friend.
You’ve helped all us folks on this planet no end.
You’ve saved all our houses, our ceilings and floors.
You’ve saved all our churches and grocery stores.”
“You mean…” Optimus gasped, “you have buildings there, too?”
“Oh, yes,” piped the voice. “We most certainly do…
“I know,” called the voice, “I’m too small to be seen
But I’m inventor in a town that's friendly and clean.**
Our buildings, to you, would seem terribly small
But to us, who aren’t big, they are wonderfully tall.
My town is called Detroit, and our world is called Earth
And we humans are thankful that you saw our lives having worth!”
And Optimus called back to the Inventor in the town,
“You’re safe now. Don’t worry. I won’t let you down.”
But, Just as he spoke to the Inventor on the speck,
Three big evil Airplanes dropped onto Optimus's neck!
The Decepticon Seekers came shouting, “What rot!
This Autobot's talking to humans who are not!
There aren’t any humans! And they don’t have an Inventor!
And we’re going to stop all this nonsense! So there!”
They snatched Optimus’s clover! They carried it along
To a their very large leader, a bot named Megatron,
A mighty helicopter, of very swift wing,
And they said, “Will you kindly get rid of this thing?”
And, before the poor Autobot could even shout,
That 'Con took the flower and carried it out.
All that late afternoon and far into the night
LIke a predatory bird it spun its propellers in flight,
While Optimus chased after, with groans, over steel
That tattered his plating and battered his wheels,
And begged, “Please don’t harm all my little folks, who
Have as much right to live as us bigger folk do!”
But far, far beyond him, Megatron kept flapping
And over his shoulder called back, “Quit your yapping.
I’ll fly the night through. I’m a 'Con. I don’t mind it.
And I’ll hide this, tomorrow, where you’ll never find it!”
And at 6:56 the next morning he did it.
It sure was a terrible place that he hid it.
He let that small clover drop somewhere inside
Of a great patch of clovers a hundred miles wide!
“Find THAT!” sneered the Copter. “But I think you will fail.”
And he left
With a flip
Of his black-bottomed tail.
“I’ll find it!” cried Optimus. “I’ll find it or bust!
I SHALL find my friends on my small speck of dust!”
And clover, by clover, by clover with care
He picked up and searched the, and called, “Are you there?”
But clover, by clover, by clover he found
That the one that he sought for was just not around.
And by noon poor old Prime, more dead than alive,
Had picked, searched, and piled up, nine thousand and five.
Then, on through the afternoon, hour after hour…
Till he found them at last! On the three millionth flower!
“My friends!” cried the Autobot. “Tell me! Do tell!
Are you safe? Are you sound? Are you whole? Are you well?”
From down on the speck came the voice of the Inventor:
“We’ve really had trouble! Much more than our share.
When that helicopter let go and we dropped,
We landed so hard that our clocks have all stopped.
Our tea pots are broken. Our rocking-chairs are smashed.
And our bicycle tires all blew up when we crashed.
So, Optimus, Please!” pleaded that voice of the Invetor’s,
“Will you stick by us humans while we’re making repairs?”
“Of course,” Optimus answered. “Of course I will stick.
I’ll stick by you small folks though thin and though thick!”
“Humpf!” humpfed a voice!
“For almost two days you’ve run wild and insisted
On chatting with persons who’ve never existed.
Such carryings-on in our peaceable jungle!
We’ve had quite enough of your bellowing bungle!
And I’m here to state,” snapped Sentinel Prime,
“That your silly nonsensical game is done, out of time!”
And the jet twins nodded, affirming the crime.
“With the help of the Decepticon Seekers and dozens
Of Construction helpers and Predacon cousins
And Cassetticon minibots, whose help I’ve engaged,
You’re going to be roped! And you’re going to be caged!
And, as for your dust speck…hah!
That we shall boil
In a hot steaming kettle of dirty Engine Oil!”
“Boil it?…” gasped Optimus!
“Oh, that you can’t do!
It’s all full of persons!
They’ll prove it to you!”
“Mr. Sumdac! Mr. Sumdac!” Optimus called. "Tell your Mayor!"
You’ve got to prove that you really are there!
So call a big meeting. Get everyone out.
Make every human holler! Make every human shout!
Make every human scream! If you don’t, every one
Is going to end up in as engine oil scum!”
And, down on the dust speck, the scared little man
Quick called a big meeting in Detroit Town Square.
And his people cried loudly. They cried out in fear:
“We are here! We are here! We are here!”
The autobot smiled: “That was clear as a bell.
You Elite Guard bots surely heard that very well.”
“All I heard,” snapped Sentinel, “Was the breeze,
And the faint sound of wind through the far-distant trees.
I heard no small voices. And you didn’t either.”
And the nearby jet twins chorused, “Us, neither.”
“Grab him!” they shouted. “And cage the big dope!
Lasso his chassis with ten miles of rope!
Tie the knots tight so he’ll never shake lose!
Then dunk that dumb speck in the engine oil juice!”
Optimus fought back with great vigor and vim
But the Decepticon gang was too many for him.
They beat him! They mauled him! They started to haul
Him into his cage! But he managed to call
To the Inventor: “Don’t give up! I believe in you all
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!”
The Inventor grabbed a tom-tom. He started to smack it.
And, all over Detroit, they whooped up a racked.
They rattled tie kettles! They beat on brass pans,
On garbage pail tops and old cranberry cans!
They blew on bazooka and blasted great toots
On clarinets, oom-pahs and boom-pahs and flutes!
Great gusts of loud racket rang high through the air.
They rattled and shook the whole sky! And the Inventor
Called up through the howling mad hullabaloo:
“Hey Optimus! Hows this? Is our sound coming through?”
And Optimus called back, “I can hear you just fine.
But Sentinel’s audio units aren’t as strong, quite, as mine.
They don’t hear a thing! Are you sure all you boys
Are doing their best? Are they ALL making noise?
Are you sure every human down in Detroit is working?
Quick! Look through your town! Is there anyone shirking?”
Through the town rushed the Inventor, From the east to the west.
But everyone seemed to be doing his best.
Everyone seemed to be yapping or yipping!
Everyone seemed to be beeping or bipping!
But it wasn’t enough, all this ruckus and roar!
He HAD to find someone to help him make more.
He raced through each building! He searched floor-to-floor!
And, just as he felt he was getting nowhere,
And almost about to give up in despair,
He suddenly burst through a door and that Mayor
Discovered one shirker! Quite hidden away
In the Sumdac Towers (room 12-J)
A very small, very small shirker named Sari
was standing, just standing, and playing Atari!
Not making a sound! Not a yipp! Not a chirp!
And the Invetor rushed inside and he grabbed the young twerp!
And he climbed with the girl up to the top of Tower.
“This,” cried the Inventor, “is your towns darkest hour!
The time for all humans who have blood that is red
To come to the aid of their country!” he said.
“We’ve GOT to make noises in greater amounts!
So, open your mouth, dear! For every voice counts!”
Thus he spoke as he climbed. When they got to the top,
The girl cleared her throat and she shouted out, “YOPP!”
And that Yopp…
That one small, extra Yopp put it over!
Finally, at last! From that speck on that clover
Their voices were heard! They rang out clear and clean.
And the Autobot smiled. “Do you see what I mean?…
They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.
And their whole world was saved by the smallest of All!”
“How true! Yes, how true,” said Sentinel Prime.
“And, from now on, you know what I’m planning to do?…
From now on, I’m going to protect life with you!”
And the jet twins nearby said…
“…US, TOO!”
“From the sun in the summer. From rain when it’s fall-ish,
We're going to protect them. No matter how small-ish!”
**Detroit? PFFFAHAHAHAHA
On the fifteenth of May, in the city Tyger Pax,
the stars shone above, the security lax,
He was reading…enjoying Cybertron's great joys…
When Optimus Prime heard a very small noise.
So Prime, he stopped reading. He looked towards the sound.
“That’s funny,” thought Optimus. “There’s no one around.”
Then he heard it again! Just a very faint yelp
As if some tiny person were calling for help.
“I’ll help you,” said Prime. “But who are you? Where?”
He looked and he looked. He could see nothing there
But a small speck of dust blowing past though the air.
“I say!” murmured Optimus. “I’ve never heard tell
Of a small speck of dust that is able to yell.
So you know what I think?…Why, I think that there must
Be someone on top of that small speck of dust!
Some sort of a creature of very small size,
too small to be seen by a Transformer’s eyes…
“…some poor little sentient, who’s shaking with fear
That he’ll blow into nothing! He has no way to steer!
I’ll just have to save him. Because, after all,
A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
So, gently, and using the greatest of care,
The robot stretched his great servo through the air,
And he lifted the dust speck and carried it over
And placed it down, safe, on a very soft roboclover.
“Humpf!” humpfed a voice. Twas Sentinel Prime.
And the twins nearby said "Humpf!" at the very same time
“Why, that speck is as small as the head of a pin.
A person on that?…why, there never has been!”
“Believe me,” said Optimus. “I tell you sincerely,
My sensors are quite keen and I heard him quite clearly.
I know there’s a person down there. And, what’s more,
Quite likely there’s two. Even three. Even four.
Quite likely…
“…a family unit, for all that we know!
A family with protoforms just starting to grow.
So, please,” Optimus said, “as a favour to me,
Try not to disturb them. Just let them be.”
“I think you’re a fool!” laughed Sentinel Prime
And the twins nearby said "us too!" at the same time
"You’re the biggest blame fool in all Cybertron!”
And the Elite Guard stormed from the room anon.
“What terrible manners!” the Autobot said, curt.
“I can’t let my very small persons get hurt!
I’ve got to protect them. I’m bigger than they.”
So he plucked up the clover and hustled away.
Through the high crystal towers, the news quickly spread:
“He talks to a dust speck! He’s out of his head!
Just look at him walk with that speck on the flower!”
And Optimus walked, worrying, almost an hour.
“Should I put this speck down?…” Prime though with alarm.
“If I do, these small persons may come to great harm.
I can’t put it down. And I won’t! After all
A person’s a person. No matter how small.”
Then Optimus stopped walking.
The speck-voice was talking!
The voice was so faint he could just barely hear it.
“Speak up, please,” Said Optimus. He put his audio near it.
“My friend,” came the voice, “you’re a very fine friend.
You’ve helped all us folks on this planet no end.
You’ve saved all our houses, our ceilings and floors.
You’ve saved all our churches and grocery stores.”
“You mean…” Optimus gasped, “you have buildings there, too?”
“Oh, yes,” piped the voice. “We most certainly do…
“I know,” called the voice, “I’m too small to be seen
But I’m inventor in a town that's friendly and clean.**
Our buildings, to you, would seem terribly small
But to us, who aren’t big, they are wonderfully tall.
My town is called Detroit, and our world is called Earth
And we humans are thankful that you saw our lives having worth!”
And Optimus called back to the Inventor in the town,
“You’re safe now. Don’t worry. I won’t let you down.”
But, Just as he spoke to the Inventor on the speck,
Three big evil Airplanes dropped onto Optimus's neck!
The Decepticon Seekers came shouting, “What rot!
This Autobot's talking to humans who are not!
There aren’t any humans! And they don’t have an Inventor!
And we’re going to stop all this nonsense! So there!”
They snatched Optimus’s clover! They carried it along
To a their very large leader, a bot named Megatron,
A mighty helicopter, of very swift wing,
And they said, “Will you kindly get rid of this thing?”
And, before the poor Autobot could even shout,
That 'Con took the flower and carried it out.
All that late afternoon and far into the night
LIke a predatory bird it spun its propellers in flight,
While Optimus chased after, with groans, over steel
That tattered his plating and battered his wheels,
And begged, “Please don’t harm all my little folks, who
Have as much right to live as us bigger folk do!”
But far, far beyond him, Megatron kept flapping
And over his shoulder called back, “Quit your yapping.
I’ll fly the night through. I’m a 'Con. I don’t mind it.
And I’ll hide this, tomorrow, where you’ll never find it!”
And at 6:56 the next morning he did it.
It sure was a terrible place that he hid it.
He let that small clover drop somewhere inside
Of a great patch of clovers a hundred miles wide!
“Find THAT!” sneered the Copter. “But I think you will fail.”
And he left
With a flip
Of his black-bottomed tail.
“I’ll find it!” cried Optimus. “I’ll find it or bust!
I SHALL find my friends on my small speck of dust!”
And clover, by clover, by clover with care
He picked up and searched the, and called, “Are you there?”
But clover, by clover, by clover he found
That the one that he sought for was just not around.
And by noon poor old Prime, more dead than alive,
Had picked, searched, and piled up, nine thousand and five.
Then, on through the afternoon, hour after hour…
Till he found them at last! On the three millionth flower!
“My friends!” cried the Autobot. “Tell me! Do tell!
Are you safe? Are you sound? Are you whole? Are you well?”
From down on the speck came the voice of the Inventor:
“We’ve really had trouble! Much more than our share.
When that helicopter let go and we dropped,
We landed so hard that our clocks have all stopped.
Our tea pots are broken. Our rocking-chairs are smashed.
And our bicycle tires all blew up when we crashed.
So, Optimus, Please!” pleaded that voice of the Invetor’s,
“Will you stick by us humans while we’re making repairs?”
“Of course,” Optimus answered. “Of course I will stick.
I’ll stick by you small folks though thin and though thick!”
“Humpf!” humpfed a voice!
“For almost two days you’ve run wild and insisted
On chatting with persons who’ve never existed.
Such carryings-on in our peaceable jungle!
We’ve had quite enough of your bellowing bungle!
And I’m here to state,” snapped Sentinel Prime,
“That your silly nonsensical game is done, out of time!”
And the jet twins nodded, affirming the crime.
“With the help of the Decepticon Seekers and dozens
Of Construction helpers and Predacon cousins
And Cassetticon minibots, whose help I’ve engaged,
You’re going to be roped! And you’re going to be caged!
And, as for your dust speck…hah!
That we shall boil
In a hot steaming kettle of dirty Engine Oil!”
“Boil it?…” gasped Optimus!
“Oh, that you can’t do!
It’s all full of persons!
They’ll prove it to you!”
“Mr. Sumdac! Mr. Sumdac!” Optimus called. "Tell your Mayor!"
You’ve got to prove that you really are there!
So call a big meeting. Get everyone out.
Make every human holler! Make every human shout!
Make every human scream! If you don’t, every one
Is going to end up in as engine oil scum!”
And, down on the dust speck, the scared little man
Quick called a big meeting in Detroit Town Square.
And his people cried loudly. They cried out in fear:
“We are here! We are here! We are here!”
The autobot smiled: “That was clear as a bell.
You Elite Guard bots surely heard that very well.”
“All I heard,” snapped Sentinel, “Was the breeze,
And the faint sound of wind through the far-distant trees.
I heard no small voices. And you didn’t either.”
And the nearby jet twins chorused, “Us, neither.”
“Grab him!” they shouted. “And cage the big dope!
Lasso his chassis with ten miles of rope!
Tie the knots tight so he’ll never shake lose!
Then dunk that dumb speck in the engine oil juice!”
Optimus fought back with great vigor and vim
But the Decepticon gang was too many for him.
They beat him! They mauled him! They started to haul
Him into his cage! But he managed to call
To the Inventor: “Don’t give up! I believe in you all
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!”
The Inventor grabbed a tom-tom. He started to smack it.
And, all over Detroit, they whooped up a racked.
They rattled tie kettles! They beat on brass pans,
On garbage pail tops and old cranberry cans!
They blew on bazooka and blasted great toots
On clarinets, oom-pahs and boom-pahs and flutes!
Great gusts of loud racket rang high through the air.
They rattled and shook the whole sky! And the Inventor
Called up through the howling mad hullabaloo:
“Hey Optimus! Hows this? Is our sound coming through?”
And Optimus called back, “I can hear you just fine.
But Sentinel’s audio units aren’t as strong, quite, as mine.
They don’t hear a thing! Are you sure all you boys
Are doing their best? Are they ALL making noise?
Are you sure every human down in Detroit is working?
Quick! Look through your town! Is there anyone shirking?”
Through the town rushed the Inventor, From the east to the west.
But everyone seemed to be doing his best.
Everyone seemed to be yapping or yipping!
Everyone seemed to be beeping or bipping!
But it wasn’t enough, all this ruckus and roar!
He HAD to find someone to help him make more.
He raced through each building! He searched floor-to-floor!
And, just as he felt he was getting nowhere,
And almost about to give up in despair,
He suddenly burst through a door and that Mayor
Discovered one shirker! Quite hidden away
In the Sumdac Towers (room 12-J)
A very small, very small shirker named Sari
was standing, just standing, and playing Atari!
Not making a sound! Not a yipp! Not a chirp!
And the Invetor rushed inside and he grabbed the young twerp!
And he climbed with the girl up to the top of Tower.
“This,” cried the Inventor, “is your towns darkest hour!
The time for all humans who have blood that is red
To come to the aid of their country!” he said.
“We’ve GOT to make noises in greater amounts!
So, open your mouth, dear! For every voice counts!”
Thus he spoke as he climbed. When they got to the top,
The girl cleared her throat and she shouted out, “YOPP!”
And that Yopp…
That one small, extra Yopp put it over!
Finally, at last! From that speck on that clover
Their voices were heard! They rang out clear and clean.
And the Autobot smiled. “Do you see what I mean?…
They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.
And their whole world was saved by the smallest of All!”
“How true! Yes, how true,” said Sentinel Prime.
“And, from now on, you know what I’m planning to do?…
From now on, I’m going to protect life with you!”
And the jet twins nearby said…
“…US, TOO!”
“From the sun in the summer. From rain when it’s fall-ish,
We're going to protect them. No matter how small-ish!”
**Detroit? PFFFAHAHAHAHA