"Fade Away"

"Fade Away"

Today was not the best of days.
I found a ‘pink slip’ in my box.
It seems that I have been replaced
By something that has struts and shocks.

“Don’t need you now, old man” they say.
“You’re much too slow; machines are fast!
We’re modernized and mechanized!
The times have changed; you’re in the past.”

Where shall I go, when I leave here?
I have no skills to work machines.
Precision tools and steady hands
Have always been my chosen means.

I’ve worked this job for thirty years.
Was never sick and never late.
But now I’m told I’ve been ‘let go’.
“Pick up your tools; no need to wait!”

I have become a dinosaur.
I’m headed for the tar pits now.
The last act of a one-man-show,
Step off the stage and take a bow.

How shall I go when I do go?
I guess I’ll slowly fade away.
A dying ember on the hearth,
The dusk as twilight fades to grey.

Another sacrificial lamb
Whose job was taken as a prize
By mighty lords of industry
In their attempt to ‘modernize’.


rhyme pattern: abcb
meter pattern: 8-8-8-8