When The World Was Listening. Poem by Michael Cochrane

I recall the time before the glass screens, when life was lived at a slower pace and neighbors stopped to chat.
No emails to check or buzzing messages.
A phone was on the wall and on occasion rang and was mostly silent, you had a life to lead people to meet face to face.
Letters you would write with a fountain pen and send abroad to relatives in distant lands.
We cherished family photos in an album for all to see and remember the happiness of our childhood and the people who had passed.
Memories came flooding back, and not lost in the cloud of digital files.
We scroll through endless images and life passes us by, we photograph the sunset but forget to look at the sky.
We need to believe that things will change in time, when we lose the phones and put them down and turn them off!
And see the world through the windows of our eyes.
Michael Cochrane ©️ 2026