WWW.

How would you ever find a stray face that attracted you on the net?

At night, I sit in this darkened room

And stare at the hollow screen,

The World-Wide Web is a crystal ball

Of tides, and hopes, and dreams,

Though the world goes on outside my door

And time, it flows like the sea,

I have no truck with reality

When the web washes over me.

 

For I dredge the depths with a grappling hook

And I haul my catch on board,

Then I read the thoughts of a million minds

That were left on the furthest shore,

While the colours swirl and the lights go dim

And the sounds fade from without,

I float in the mass of cyberspace

'Til the light of the moon goes out.

 

Then emails beat at my cyber door

To ask if I'll let them in,

I cast my net for the viruses,

And choke the Recycle bin,

I stare at faces I've never seen

That float on a cyber wave,

Which disappear as the next comes near

For two are never the same.

 

But one returns, and it stares at me

And I see the limpid eyes,

Like pools in deep lagoons offshore

Where the mermaid lives and dies,

While the lips are full of promises

As false as the deepest sin,

I reach on out to the screen, but find

That the screen won't let me in.

 

Then night on night, like a dread parade

Those pictures come again,

From some lost ancient URL

Long gone from the world of men,

I search and Google in cyberspace

In hopes that you're somewhere there,

But all I have are those limpid eyes

And the bands in your dark brown hair.

 

One night, I'll leap right through the screen

And swim to your blue lagoon,

I'll take bright garlands of pretty flowers

To gladden the cyber gloom,

We'll live forever behind the screen

And our faces will go online,

For the stares of the grim night dwellers

Who are surfing the Web, World-Wide.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[cynthiabuhainbaello]

A very engaging narrative of your cyber exploits and still reveals the lady- killer heart that stalks for pretty faces - hope you met her Matrix-like. Excellent idea for a poem, and ever brilliant in composition, you still stand out as one with the mastery of rhyme and rhythm, poetic flow and now...romance. A unique change from your previous writes of murder and mystery narratives. :-) Like this one!

[Wildfleour]

I'm sure many of us feel this way! :)

[Collette]

Eerie....you've turned the web into an actual web of entrapment. I like the obsessive quality of this poem, although it creeps me out a bit, you've done an excellent job bringing those feelings forth. Your words evoke such strong emotions, I could feel a twinge of fear in the back of my neck. Are you predator, or prey? Friend or foe? So many questions arose from this piece, and I don't know which angle you approached from. Thank you for the confusion! hah
really though, these lines hit home:

Then night on night, like a dread parade
Those pictures come again,
From some lost ancient URL
Long gone from the world of men,
I search and Google in cyberspace
In hopes that you're somewhere there,
But all I have are those limpid eyes
And the bands in your dark brown hair.

perhaps it is because I have dark brown hair? I felt as though I should fear something from this piece after reading that...Excellent job. Not many can fully evoke fear within a piece, but you've done it beautifully.

[darkgurl]

"Then emails beat at my cyber doorTo ask if I'll let them in,I cast my net for the viruses,And choke the Recycle bin," Love these lines right here the best, Love the whole thing the twist and turns, Very well written here, this is pure poetry to me. Love this.

[Kris Tate]

Very well written, the honesty in this just makes me want to laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time. It is an awesome write, thanks so much for letting us read this here in cyber space. ;P

[James Takeo Panton]

I loved this write...insightful, honest, and with a fair amount of sarcasm and irony (after all, I AM reading this online!!) for spice...great recipe for poetry!!