Before hands lit up so brightly in the nighttime
Holding over-sized lightening bugs
Constantly poked and prodded by intensely productive thumbs
Before worth was measured by smiles in pictures and
How many people witnessed your happy
Before unborn children were made famous,
Posted in black, blurry pictures for all to see
Over and over and over until we all cry
Before the beginning and the end of communication
Before all that, people did not walk around
With black bags under sleepy eyes
With half of their senses blocked off, muted
People did not wince at the sound of silence and boredom
Or the idea of connecting with an actual human face to face
Or the release of raw, real human emotion that meant something
But now we hide
In the dark shadows of solitude
In the shade of our perfectly-polished fake lives
In the closet, away from the others, all by ourselves
Stroking over-sized lightening bugs like they are the only things
That can give us light
As if they are the only things that can save us.
They can’t.