So many tears

[ellyssian]

So many tears
September 17, 2005

So many tears,
so little time.
I cry for each moment past,
a lapse of something monumental -
a mere moment that was hardly momentous -
and mediocrity washes over me in waves.

For if nothing
defines the present
than what will be left for others to read -
our temple walls are whitewashed,
the hieroglyphs of the pharaohs speaking
volumes of our more enlightened past;
our digital legacy lingering in the metals
reforged into plow and scythe,
encrypted data -
names, numbers, fortunes, secrets, thoughts, and all -
held in rough hands and working the land,
feeding a family and far too few friends.

And what, then,
of this bleak future?
It unfolds before me in patterns I recognize,
the path is well trodden, beaten down again and again;
so little time at my disposal, such a shame to spend it all running in place,
so many tears are falling that I wonder how much of this world they will erase.

Copyright (c) 2005 Everett Ambrose Warren