TV Guardian Remorse

When TV becomes more than entertainment, but a part of life.

So lost and alone
Nothing but static and silence at home
He finally began to see
He finally began to understand
That it was never what he thought

A babe barely able to see
Placed with the technicolor dream
By his clever mom and dad
His youth made him a captive audience
And he was sucked in by it's mono toned embrace
If only he could crawl he would know better than to give in

As he grew, so did his attachment
To that sweet silver scene
So many images and sounds
The stories it told and comfort it brought
Could never be alone if it was there
Could never be sad if it was on
Like a picture perfect hug
It was the only thing he knew

Time became parceled in 30 minute intervals
All planned around the scripted scenes
Of people as real as imagination
Hours wasted staring like a lost little lamb
And nights snuggled up listening to the sounds
Of his longtime analog lullaby
As long as it was on
The world was ok

As time went on
He lost some of his will, lost a bit of his soul
Years and years of attaching emotion to this
Years of looking up to this box of glass and metal stone
Mom and dad, was more so than the flesh and blood
It never tried to hurt like all the other
The most understanding it was of lovers
Telling him that the world was alright
As he suspended belief for 30 minutes at a time

What reality and real where have become blurred
He is the incarnation of all the displays on the dials
He is no more than what is broadcast and played upon the screen
He wonders if he's truly real, questions his humanity
So many things he wished he'd done and seen
While stuck in the trance of this hypnotic machine
It was what he knew from the time he could see
It was all he could remember for his life lessons and morality
It was all that he could use to stand when he fell
It was the thing that cut into his heart and soul

Static and silence as he turned to see the blank white stare
Of the empty void of his longtime friend
The sound of soft crackles of lost signals that were never there
In the seat where it all began, he felt so alone and so cold
Like the last of a dead breed he longed to know
Just to be a part of something greater, to feel like he belonged
Beyond the fake and fabricated world that was his lullaby
All he ever wanted was to feel the love and life he saw
But somehow all he had was this picture screen and a feeling of alone
He wept because in all his time, this was all he'd ever known