Choices

For years, I wove a tapestry
Of data and technology,
A network threaded carefully
With software, sales and smart VCs.

The days began before the sun
And daily meetings had begun.
Though early hours were always shunned,
The dev team made the software run.

We pushed the edge of innovation,
Weaving luck, imagination
Into clever applications
And successful operations.

But … there was a time, important to me,
When oration, words and poetry
Were loved for what they just could be
Before we parsed them digitally.

One day when I was just eighteen,
I had to make a choice between
The seductive, sexy info scene
And what had been my poet’s dream.

I said good-bye to Whitman, Yeats
And Frost and other wordy greats.
Instead, I joined with Jobs and Gates
To seek some more pragmatic mates.

It’s turned out well – great things occurred.
But now it’s time for what’s deferred,
To give a voice to phrase and word
And let the sounds of soul be heard.