Nine months of anguish, despair and fear
Waiting for your child to appear
All that activity in your belly
The times drawing near you shake like jelly
Our son arrived safe and well
Pride and joy making hearts swell
Murray Alexander a name to remember
A loving mum so caring and tender
I'd do it again one after the other
For the happiness a child brings a father and mother
We'll give him the best there is in life
Long after he's gone and taken a wife
All that we ask for in return
Is his continuous love for his dad and his mum

The velvet drops fall
        Erasing time,
             Creating space,
Sweeping memories
Along dust filled lanes.
A shrill whistle
          On a deserted street.
The kicking of a ball
That has already rolled away.
A balloon
           Slipping
From trembling fingers,
            Shrinking from sight,
Seeing more
Than ever before.
The velvet drops fall.
And the woman
            Still dances
Barefoot in the rain.

Where would I be
Without the Internet and Tellee?
Yes it’s telly I know,
With its glitzy glow.
They’ll be watching down there in Walthamstow.

X Factor, Big Brother and many a quiz,
They are the equivalent of ol’ Show Biz.
They say we are ruled by all this media,
That all those videos are a bad idea.
Without them though it would feel quite queer.

Newspapers now have become old hat,
There’s not a lot we can do about that.
I seem to live in Facebook Land,
But many say it ought to be banned.
They bury their heads in that golden sand.

The Google answers my every question:
Lots of info for my digestion.
Facebook’s full of gossip and chat,
There’s every scope for acting the prat,
So if you don’t like it, just Take That.

I’m on the net most every morning.
Sad to say, it never gets boring.
(Though it still might carry a Government Health Warning)!
Near Noon I have to drag myself away,
But not too many kids are out to play,
It’s video games for them all day.

Any kids about, they’re on their mobile phones.
They’re starting to look like devoted clones.
They hardly look where they are walking,
Busy reading and occasionally talking.
The traffic they are always baulking.

To real life they pay no attention.
They all deserve to be in detention.
I have to wonder how brainwashed we are,
Let’s go on a show and become a pop star.
It’ll soon be empty in the bar.

Social Networking is what they call it,
So very easy to install it.
Instagramming is now the thing,
It’s all about the imaging.
There’s nothing like that internet ping.

So there you are, The Media Rules,
Thanks to all these technical tools.
Soon there’ll be no need for schools,
But will we make geniuses, or a flock of fools?

Paul Butters

© PB 5\9\2015.