Time, Then And Now Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Time it was when strident phones once rang,
Caged-parrot-like tunes when same song sang,
Time it was somewhat blest
We dialled when, not prest,
Pocket versions everywhere now hang.

Time soon came dials were no more hailed,
Like sailed ships saint-like silent they sailed,
Lost dials apes as tails,
Snail-mails lost to wire mails,
Yet, with all this high speed something ailed.

I recall the time with some raw ire
The phones lost when umbilical wire,
TVs getting cable,
Channels to enable,
But more, not merry, failed to inspire.

Sooner still phones lost their manly face,
And picked up a nigh feminine grace;
From mere telephony,
To multi-task many,
Music and mails and a blue-tooth race!

No more does phone fit all family,
Now ‘tis one each to fowl and filly,
One each dedicated,
Personal and patted,
Oh driving everyone mad silly!

But time was when they caused a headache,
Long-distance call much like bread on bake,
That turned to a migraine,
And chronic pain in brain,
Mobiles make now cancer-causing stake.

And this grey-haired man wonders again
If progress can come in without pain,
And be not a mix bag—
Freedom, tether nor tag,
If man can begin whence he began.
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Each stanza of this poem looks like a limerick, but
it is not. The first, second, and fourth lines are set
mostly in iambic tetra metre with an occasional
anapaest. But the third and fourth lines, shorter in
tri metre, are anapaest. The underlined tone is
light humour.
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-Tongue-in-cheek | 06.12.09 |