Old Tommy
I sit in the dark watching a dim-lit screen
While amidst the calm patience, I make my blade keen
For all in its worth, this screen will give commands
Much like vice versa, we met our demands
Oh, what a bleak concept to see through a box
To live life controlled by digital clocks
And so in my darkness, I wait for a light
So that I may hunt for my prey in the night
I eat only what the screen says I shall
My sphere of influence not beyond my locale
Not in solace, nor song, do I speak from my mind
For my mind is a gear that the screen may rewind
It tells me it loves me and let's me stay sane
As long as I promise to always refrain
From hearing the truth for what it intends
To come across as when it wants to be friends
I have only one friend, one friend to describe
His name is Old Tommy, the chief of my tribe
No man, no woman may ever compare
To the wits of Old Tommy and our platonic affair
He listens, he gives me the greatest advice
His words are so soothing, yet complex and precise
We like to look over the people in our town
And judge them like subjects of the heavenly crown
We list them and keep them in an organized file
For a near-future date to make this all worthwhile
The list is complete, no names are excluded
And after completion, we promptly concluded
The world is a cup and it's filled to the brim
So we decided to drink from the cup (on a whim)
He gave me a name and we found its address
And we did our foul business and cleaned up our mess
And after we found and deleted the text
We again pressed the button and moved onto the next
This process took over the course of my life
From my weak years of twelve to my middle-aged strife
And all along the way no regrets met my mind
For my mind was a gear that Tommy could rewind
At the age of seventy (or seventy-one)
Tommy and I decided that our work was done
So I sat in the dark and I filled up my glass
"Cheers, Tommy boy," (I don't mean to be crass)
But before I could sip, Old Tommy said, "Son"
"The list of names has been narrowed to one"
And I said, "How did we forget that last person"
Let's finish our work before this situation worsens
So I looked at list and was surprised to see
That the name on the list was none other than me
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Submitted on April 28, 2016
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:16 min read
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Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKLL MMNN OOPP QQRR FFSS TTSS SXU U |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,162 |
Words | 451 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1 |
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"Old Tommy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/80808/old-tommy>.
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