by Gideon Burton
When I consider how my life is spent
in tasks and topics no one ever guessed
(and no one now can really circumvent)--
I wonder if I'm cursed or if I'm blessed.
Displays of liquid light whose flowing rush
of images and words confound my eyes,
perplex my time and vex me with their crush
of wonders mixed with much that I despise.
If it were simply simple to unplug
(and doubtless this could serve a healthy turn),
but printed paper's champions are too smug,
to think the factory's better when it's burned.
No doubt to throttle digits is an art.
So I will pause, reflect, revise, restart.
Photo: flickr - Filin Ilia
Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It's quite rough, but students showed up to my office hours, so I had to rush my in-form response:
ReplyDeleteIn days long past the bible's Preacher said
it's vanity to think that sweat makes life
what lies below the sun is always dead
there is not always purpose in our strife
But when I toil, it's seldom by the light
of sun or moon or aught but this screen's glow
So what are we to make of this new plight
where vanity's inside, not just below?
I've wondered if, like Jesus, we should cleanse
the temples of our lives from screens and noise
but to what end? the usefulness depends
on what destruction would replace with joys
Is peace then to be found chasing the past?
Most work is vain, at first and in the last.