1Earthling

Screens stayed on much longer.
Blue light glowing in the room.
Dial tones singing in the night,
long after the house went quiet.

Someone sitting in the darkness,
waiting for the page to load.
Nobody called it life changing.
Was just another place to go.

People still met at coffee shops.
Walked home on Friday nights.
But the world just kept opening,
somewhere glowing out of sight.

Some still living town to town.
Others talking world to world.
Screens stayed on a little longer.
People drifting somewhere new.

Tom talked simulation systems,
linked directly to the plant.
Nobody quite knew what he meant,
nor understood what he did.

Most wondered, what’s an Internet?
Some were already living there,
passing messages to each other
from halfway around the world.

People still met at coffee shops.
Walked home on Friday nights.
But the world just kept opening,
somewhere glowing out of sight.

Some still living town to town.
Others talking world to world.
Screens stayed on a little longer.
People drifting somewhere new.

People stayed up downloading slowly,
watching numbers crawl all night.
Downloads failing half completed.
Still, they tried the next night too.

Phone lines humming in the darkness,
long after the town went still.
Physical distance still existed,
yet the rooms felt less alone.

People still met at coffee shops.
Walked home on Friday nights.
But the world just kept opening,
somewhere glowing out of sight.

Some still living town to town.
Others talking world to world.
Screens stayed on a little longer.
People drifting somewhere new.