War on Time

You enlisted in the war on Time long ago

Re-upping with every child

Renewing your resolve to win

To overthrow a tyrant that takes everything

Even as it gives us everything it takes

You went to the front with the latest tools

Digitization, pixelation

Capturing moments by the thousands

Sequestering them in electric prisons

Back in the day, you might’ve stockpiled silver nitrate

Interrogations held in dark rooms

Water boarding your captives

In a later generation,

You would farm out the dirty details

Privatizating the processing of your prisoners

Never knowing how they might be returned

Every soldier knows it’s all for naught

Kodachrome memories lost in black boxes or faded in the sun

Imaginary clouds burst, bringing real tears

Time claims victory any way it can

I, too, fight the futile fight

I’ve tried your tools and techniques

But my aim is always off

So I find myself stuck in the old ways

Using a weapon handed down across generations

Its unreliability is legendary

It’s sights askew, blurry

Too focused on glaring mistakes

Too willing to be deceived

But sometimes

In that moment of deception

Everything glows, perfectly filtered

And I think: Mission accomplished

Time is held hostage

Whenever you walk into a room