October 2, 1993

251. Longing For Days Gone By

Take me back to days gone by
When there were no airplanes in the sky
And man's feet were on the ground.
We thought not of who we were,
But how we could better the world.
Shakespeare's eyes gleamed only with his words;
Galileo wanted to teach the world what he knew.
Plato wanted us to sit and reflect,
And Cook set out to show the world his ocean blue.
I marvel at the splendor,
Stare in sheer awe at the thought
Of what it might have been like
To see Shakespeare watching his plays,
To watch Galileo calculate and ponder,
To listen to Plato speak his wonder,
Or to see Cook gaze at new-found lands.
Such beauty, such wonder
The love of arts has shown me
Through this great trek for knowledge
That I've come to quietly wonder
How it is I can take pride in this world
Where literature has become annoying
And knowledge is laughed upon.
For here is today, and there was yesterday,
But all this world of TV, radio, computers and airplanes
Would I give up in the blink of an eye
So that I could see an untouched beach,
Take a ride in a slow, clumsy carriage,
Sit at a Mozart Concierto in a fine-tailored suit,
And ponder how foolish man will become
In the great future I'll never see......

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