The Gears

The Gears

...have stopped grinding.

The world outside
is strangely silent.

There's no whooshing traffic,
and I don't hear the creaking
of school buses braking
at every other driveway.

This must be what
this world sounded like
in preindustrial times.

Each day started
a little more slowly,
a little more quietly,
a little more peacefully.

I didn't know.
We didn't know.

Yet few among us
are likely not enjoying
this rare opportunity
to catch our breath.

In times of real crisis
ideology matters so little.

How will the tycoons
bring their world
back up to speed,
now that we all know
it can be slowed down?

---

Wisely and slow.
They stumble that run fast.
~ William Shakespeare
(Romeo & Juliet - Act 2, Scene 3)

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