Global Village

Here’s the myth 
of the new global village
exposed in a single fact:

if all you know of me
is what I post and 
what part of that you see,

when I die in real life
and stop posting
anywhere

you might not notice
for a week or two,
you might twinge

just a bit at my absence,
maybe a bit more if you then learn
why I’m gone,

and then, I know
you’ll forget me
soon enough.

No memorial, no stone,
no tomb to keep me
vibrant for you for a long time — 

oh, perhaps you’ll recall
a line or a picture,
a word or a comment,

but as for knowing my scent
or smile or touch — was I ever,
could I ever have been

real to you if you never saw
anything of me past
what I decided you should see?
 
How is this
different
from how it once was?

Forgetting each other
has become 
as easy as 

meeting each other
across oceans
and continents,

though knowing each other
is as hard
as it as always been.