No emails!

‘There are no emails in the box for you,

There are no emails,’ it said,

That message had sat on my page for days

Like a note for the newly dead,

I sat and stared at the vacant screen

Like a litany for the lost,

All of my friends were a cyber dream

As I soon found out, to my cost.

 

My thoughts went back for many a year

When the friends that I had were real,

The ones I’d meet in the supermart

The ones I could see, and feel,

The friends that I’d had of flesh and blood

Who had drifted into my past,

Did they sit and stare at an empty screen

And hope for a word at last?

 

When I was away they had written screeds

And sent by the penny post,

While I’d sit nights by a reading lamp

Replying, not all, but most,

We told each other of babies born,

Of fights we’d had with the boss,

And laughed together when I came home

Over dreams and the schemes we tossed.

 

But as life went on and the world got old

Our friends had drifted away,

While all of us got too busy then

With the fax and the phone to play,

We would close our doors when the day was done

And stare at a silent screen,

Would reach on out to the people there

Who lived in the cyber scene.

 

And we forged new friendships over the net

As we roamed in the world out wide,

We made us hundreds of friends out there

In towns and the countryside,

It was mind to mind, there was nothing else

No flesh to press, no kiss,

We knew that we’d never meet, no hugs

Our link, a computer dish!

 

I sit alone and I wait for you,

Your messages on the screen,

That make me feel I’m connected, though

The best I can do is dream,

For a single glitch in the i.s.p.

Will stop the electron flow,

And cut us off from our new-found friends

When the email box says, ‘No!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Dhaye]

How funny that I also do that when I emailed someone, I wait for long hours at the front of my computer monitor, just to be dismayed by the truth that he hasn't read my mail. Another day will be the same...wishing for an email on my screen.
That is what we call HOPE.

[Onku Ghosh]

i can relate to this .This internet is some thing we can't do without and emails are somethings we keep waiting for.The friend in flesh and blood has taken a backseat.
Your poem very beautifully conveys these thoughts .Wonderfully written!!!

[TL Boehm]

Isn't this the truth. In 2005 I birthed a creature known as the IVM - internet validation monster. It is insatiable. this poem speaks to that monster.

[Rita L. Sev]

Been having similar thoughts lately - checking for emails, but wishing for a more human connection. Great write!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i reread this and like it even more.

internet friends are ...well...just that...
we can't really touch them...they are not palpable...they are behind a screen...

as are we.

whatever happened to face to face...relationships...soon they will be a thing of the past...and we will be left watching a blank screen hoping to hear those three words...and they aren't "i love you"---

[Zahra]

this is truly amazing and true. Thanks for sharing.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

Indeed, there is not now for any of us.

[Carolann Dowsett]

I love this and I totally agree. Internet friends are great but nothing ever beats being with someone in the flesh. Great write.

[Veronica Chandler]

Such a profound and haunting comment on the state of humanity; I can just feel the cursor blink, blink, blink. I am not sure how to feel about the observations you have so eloquently and skillfully pointed out. As someone who gets out very little and yet has a large number of virtual friends your piece is especially meaningful and thought provoking. Thank You...your way with words inspires me

[A Soap Mess Stories]

Somehow I could relate to this one when you're waiting for that email that you are waiting for.

[Patricia B. Hepler]

Great topic; thought provoking!

Indeed, our world has shrunk from 'horizon to horizon', reduced our personal space from 'wall to wall', down to the size of our monitors...
Is technology is an asset or liability?

I enjoy this technology, for we now have the ability to forge friendships with people whom we may never meet in person, yet can enjoy the camaraderie of fellow writers~
And yes, I have spent (wasted?) a lot of time waiting for emails that have not been returned ;-) ..
~pat