Run for the hills

A disunity of voices pursues me
At times, confuses me
Tries to bully
Even threaten
To push me into line
With the other old sheep.
There’s no room any more for mystery
For the grandeur of legend
For the magic of fairytale
Our new master is science
With its perfect people sporting white coats
Designer glasses and quizzical expressions.
Run, says science, swim, bungee jump
Scale Everest at seventy
Decimate what’s left of your knees
In the service of fitness
Do anything, in fact,
But sit down in that comfortable armchair.
Get online and join the rest of the world
Absorb bucketloads of useless information
Join the cacophony of hostile insecurity
That is social media
Ditch the heartfelt handwritten letter
And stop asking yourself how this serves your peace of mind.
Relish the fact that your new washing machine
Has fifteen different cycles
When all you use is three
Enjoy your new music system
For which you will need a Ph.D to operate
Then you can listen to a re-mastered mangling of your favourite songs.
Get out there and buy the latest clothes
Banish the restrictions of your own height and build
In the service of fashion
Enjoy the fact that your new coat resembles a duvet
And that most footwear would not look out of place
On a building site.
Drive innocently into a car park
Try to ignore the fact that the ticket machine
Is designed for giants with extendable arms
Be aware that, once in, that merciless metal box
May neither accept your money nor let you out
And there is no one to help you.
It’s time to go.
Time to mentally pack your bags and take off
To that little stone cottage in the Outer Hebrides
Which may only exist in imagination
But which is the best safety valve
A person could have.
There you can sit in your armchair
In front of your open fire and your bubbling kettle
You can remember with joy that glorious time
When you too were able and confident
At the top of your game
And forget how short-lived it all was.
There’s only one voice now
It’s a gentle one that doesn’t bully
It’s honed from a lifetime
Of hard-won experience
And it deserves to be heard
For it’s your own.
So enjoy the comfort of your invisibility cloak
Respond to all the nonsense with a big, secret smile
Knowing that you’ve already trodden the path of life
At least now you’ve got time to contemplate the important stuff
Like why almost every hair on your body
Has migrated to your chin.