Written in Stone

Sumerians carved in stone

Human creation stories

That remain legible today

Some four thousand years later

But I compose with light pixels

And store my words in clouds

That may dissipate

In a single generation.

I used to write with ink

Which fades

On paper which decomposes.

It was preferable I believed

To archive my works digitally

The better to preserve them

And later to recover

But that belies the truth

Of proprietary programs

And failing corporations

Of changing algorithms

And revolutionary media

Which can easily erase

With disuse or dissolution

The most diligent of collections.

If you care about words

And the lines you write

Take up the chisel

And learn to carve in stone.