In Touch

Keeping in touch was as
immediate and natural as breathing
and almost as necessary to maintain
our lives, for when we were young
friends and lovers represented
the quality of life, so we squandered
time endlessly, hanging out 
together since being together
epitomized life's juvenile
aspirations to be with, to share,
to experience, to dedicate ourselves
to one another's well-being. That
was then, and now we dedicate
our time to prolonging our lives
at whatever cost, primarily and
carefully counting scant years ahead.
Now, those intimate encounters
seem less driven if more poignant
as one then another melts into the
timelessness of death. Now, we
use social media sites to entertain
and amuse, reach out to touch a
lifeless screen, send good wishes
and fond recollections accompanied
by the black humour of cynical
rib-tickling cartoons of the elderly
coping in an unfamiliar landscape.