Gasping (Poetry)

I’m swimming in the gene-pool
this puddle-dipping life
these days it feels like drowning —
new predators run rife

The tides of time are turning
the ebb and flow’s extreme
the past’s a coastline fading
no future landfall seen

I’m floundering unfocused
grown waterlogged and tired
my hopes are slowly sinking
God-help-me flares long-fired

There’s no one left to talk to
we’ve each ourselves to save
heads bobbing in the ocean
too far apart to wave

All subject to the current
we’re dragged along in spite
of every feeble protest
and muttered human right

The truth is we’ve been scuttled
cell phones have fried our brains
while culture takes its final dive
just one last gasp remains