There is something to be said
On behalf of the common ink source and lead
For the way we are swiftly evolving
Away from the brain and away from the touch
Paper... not seeming needed so much
Except in the printer or there in the mail
Its inkjet and laser that are always on sale
Not parchment and pages, not even for solving
Calculators, processors, its all so involving
But not for the brain... and not for the future
We’ll sign on a cheque, we’ll sign for a suture
But we type and we press and we scan and we copy
No page is a mess, no one’s printing is sloppy
The art form of letters, the style and flow
They are something worth saving, something to know
But slowly we are slipping away from these motions
Tumbling in the waves of these web driven oceans
Fumbling for the knowhow of these once common actions
Like formulas for converting or simplistic fractions
What of our hand writing, or doodling and stick-men
Or the Ying of the pencil and the Yang of the pen
Millennia old art forms that are no longer resolving
We find electronic means to answer our questions
We don’t even draw maps, but we’ll e-mail directions
Its all on the screen; office, classroom or home
Built into our vehicle, even built into our phone
But what of the written, the hand printed, the unique
Or the psychiatrists who made a living from the writing critique
But more, it is something that needs to be said
On behalf of the common ink source and lead
The times are swiftly changing, the people evolving
Away from the brain work, away from the touch
Paper, for certain, is not needed so much
We type and we press, we copy and scan
The pencil never smudged, the ink never ran
But the art of the written seems slowly to be fading
Into those oceans where no web lifeguards are wading
The pen and the pencil, the clay and the stylus
Soon only history sites will be left to remind us