Beyond The Screen

Can’t see their pleading eyes, their outstretched arms

Can’t hear their pleas for attention

Don’t notice their tears, their pain when they’re pushed aside

We’re holdin’ the devices to our faces, can’t see beyond them to the world outside

Lost in the endless labyrinth of information and pleasures, we don’t see our real treasures

That text can’t wait, that email can’t be postponed, that video needs to been seen right now

And all the while, time is flyin’ past and they are growing up, getting older

When we finally set the phone down, and glance at them, we’ll be shocked

Shocked to find, that they’re all grown up

Now we’re ready to spend time with them, to try to make up for the past

But they can’t see our pleading eyes, our outstretched arms

They don’t pay attention to our pleas to be seen and acknowledged

They don’t notice how we grieve alone or our pain at being pushed aside

Just like us, they’re lost in the labyrinth

Texting, watching, reading

Their children grow up before their blinded eyes

Generation after generation, the cycle will continue

If we don’t change it now

Put down the phone, look away from the computer

And see them, before they are grown and old

Live in the real world, before that world vanishes and we realize that our only real treasures are gone

~Hattush