Better Now Than Then? <br />(stand naked in front of a full length mirror and try not to giggle or gag) <br /> <br />We were then: <br />Small wiry bipeds on dry plains of Serengeti <br />Stringy, tight muscles, strong hands, with long slender fingers <br />Low, beetled brow over dark eyes, seeing distant <br />Long pointed nails, ridged and discolored, tip slender delicate digits <br /> <br />We are now: <br />Tall upright bipeds, on dry, sere, parking lot at Walmart <br />Folds of flaccid fat, fallow, loose, hanging over belts <br />Squeaky-clean, sausage-like, weak, fat fingers <br />Skin stretched tight over pudgy, pillow-like hands <br /> <br />We were then: <br />Hardy travelers, to distant mist shrouded mountains <br />Feet naked, soles hardened, over plains of rock, sand and gravel <br />Long slender bows, slung over lean shoulders and arrows in hide pouches, <br />Obsidian knives, tucked in scant leather loincloths <br /> <br />We are now: <br />Overweight omnivores, driving air conditioned cars across heat-shimmered blacktop <br />Aching feet shod in spring-soled Nikes, Ipods and ear pods slung cross sallow chests <br />Cellphones esconced in synthetic leather, hung from belts, supporting extra large Dockers <br /> Weak, myopic eyes, desperately scanning vast uncharted parking lot <br />In search of the always elusive parking space, nearer the doors<br /><br />David Whalen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/are-we-better-now-than-then-stand-naked-in-front-of-a-full-length-mirror/
