The Stupidity Of Clever Magnetic Cards Poem by Mohammad Yousef

In the glow of fluorescent lights,
they lay scattered,
little rectangles of promise,
each a whisper of convenience,
a slick surface,
a promise of ease,
yet beneath their cool sheen,
the pulse of folly thrums.

Oh, the cleverness of engineers,
the architects of our trust,
who spoke in languages of codes and strips,
creating pathways to our desires,
inviting us to swipe, to tap,
to believe in the magic of the moment,
where barriers dissolve,
and transactions flow like a river,
smooth, seamless,
yet oh, how fragile.

A slip of the hand,
a misplaced card,
the dance of electromagnetic fields,
and suddenly,
the world is a locked door,
a fortress of inaccessibility,
staring back with its blank,
impassive face.

Clever, they said,
these cards of plastic and metal,
linked to our lives,
to our dreams and debts,
but what of the time when
the reader falters,
the battery dies,
or the server simply yawns
and blinks out of existence?

In the heart of the city,
people shuffle and swipe,
lost in a maze of signals,
their eyes glued to the screens
that connive to remind them,
in the most clever of ways,
that connection is but a flicker,
a momentary spark,
a dance on the edge of chaos.

And here we stand,
at the precipice of innovation,
clutching these cards,
like talismans of modernity,
believing we are clever too,
but what of the wisdom of the ancients,
who knew the value of a handshake,
the warmth of a shared smile,
the simplicity of a whispered promise?

Yet, we are drawn,
like moths to the shimmering light,
to the allure of convenience,
the seduction of speed,
and in our haste, we forget,
the folly of the clever magnetic card,
the stupidity that binds us
in this dance of dependence.

So let us ponder,
in the quiet corners of our minds,
the cost of our cleverness,
the price we pay for ease,
and perhaps, just perhaps,
we will find the courage
to step away from the machine,
to embrace the chaos,
to reclaim the messy beauty
of human connection,
beyond the magnetic,
beyond the clever,
into the realm of the real.