The clatter of small feet on the wooden platform

Echoed through the Dig Site.  “Gather around,”

The archeologist from the far-flung future 

Told the grade-school students. 

“We have an interesting piece for you.”

 

Delicately grasping the ancient relic

As if it were his child, the archeologist 

Said in admiration, “this one is entirely intact,

That’s rare to see, they are quite delicate.”

The children pushed and shoved to try to see

The small object in the man’s hand.

 

“This is the totem our ancestors once worshiped

It was a god personal to each of them.

So, they called it the ‘I-Phone.’” 

 

Giggling, they children rolled their eyes

In disbelief at their ancestors. 

“They didn’t really believe that little thing

was special, did they?” Asked one.

The archeologist nodded. “Of course, 

Why else would they treat it with such reverence?”

 

“Their deities’ body was given to them,

by the head god, Steve Jobs, who they also worshipped.

Steve Jobs lived in their version of Heaven, called Apple, 

like the fruit. Their personal Deity had a weak body, 

so they clad it in hard plastics in brilliant colors to protect it.”

 

The archeologist held the rectangular totem upwards, displaying its

Slightly cracked front screen. “They sacrificed their lives to the I-Phone,

Feeding into it not only countless hours of their lives, 

But also personal information for Steve Jobs to use at his whim.”

 

As the phone caught the glow of the sun,

The children shook their heads at how gullible

Their ancestors were. “To be without an I-Phone

Was sacrilegious, and punishable by becoming

A social outcast.” Holding the delicate relic to his

Chest, the archeologist smiled at the schoolchildren’s Bewilderment.  

 

“The I-Phone was rarely more than a few feet from its worshiper, 

And if the worshiper committed the grave sin

Of breaking the delicate deity, they paid large sums

to an Apple temple, to get a replacement body.

This new body would be nearly identical, 

But each year they seemed to cost much more.”

 

Soon, the schoolchildren moved on, 

Laughing at the naivety of their ancestors

To worship an object in such a manner. 

“We’ve come a long way since then,” 

one said smugly. 

All nodded. 

 

As soon as they left the dig site, they activated

their digital implants in their skull,

to tell their family about their silly ancestors

who couldn’t be parted from an object 

they revered, not once wondering 

what might their descendants think of them.