Bytes Out Of Lives Poem by Cj Heck

Lonely spouses sit, unaware,
as bytes are stolen from their lives.

Little black words
race across a white screen
where faceless people sit,
all alone, yet not alone,
each with empty space to fill.

Silent words reach out
and gently pull them in.
Hollow little word worlds
where things are shared
that shouldn’t be.

Hearts fill with promise.
Fingers spell out hope.
Minds begin to justify
two wrongs into a right
until each soul offers up
what belongs to someone else
in the little black words
racing across white screens.

With each new keystroke,
lust and fantasy are painted
on stark computer palettes.
Chasms at home widen.
Marriages wither and die,

and with each new letter
inside the little black words,
the gulf between them
grows just a little bit wider
for spouses sitting unaware
as bytes are stolen from their lives.