Dinosaurs

This is a sample poem from my second book "Chosen vanities"

Somebody must have asked the time
For I glanced at my wrist watch
Ticking and mechanical
As the youth around me stared
Bare wristed, phones in hand
At numbers on screens
Is this the sort of thing I mean
When I complain of being a dinosaur?
Awaiting extinction, on the wrong side
Of a generational shift it seems
Like those who still say “whom”

The generations come and go
Take one another’s places
And our world is passing away

It cannot now be long before
The LOL and smiley face
Will take the place left sadly vacant
By "yours sincerely"
By now, I should surely be afraid
Terrified of the old curmudgeon
The soon-sarcastic, grumbling complain
The cynic, finding safety in
The “been there, done that”
The “when you get to my age”
The “seen it all before”

The generations come and go
Take one another’s places
And our world is passing away

Perhaps it is good that it is so
Perhaps the new world will be better
Than the old world’s fond delusions
With its illusions of eternal wealth
The better life than our parents had
The hopes and fears of wasted youth
Youth glorified, exalted, feared
Whose dreams were bright a while then faded
As all dreams someday fade
When will I learn to rest my weight
On something less ephemeral?

The generations come and go
Take one another’s places
And our world is passing away

(c) Edward Rhodes (2013)