Armor All my life the world has been getting smaller: Far-off lands that were once the stuff of legend Are now a mouse click away. In a way that's wonderful. But in a way it isn't. For all that we have shrunk the world's distances We have not shrunk the world's pain. A whole wide world of suffering and despair Comes into our living rooms every day, Film at eleven. How can any sane person stand it? One word: Armor. I go clanking through my day like some denizen of the Round Table, My visor showing me the narrowest slices of the darkness without As I strive to keep some flame of humanity burning within. But I am still afraid: Someday, when I gather with my friends in some safe space And we decide to open ourselves to one another, We may find that our armor has long been empty. -- Tom Digby Written 17:05 Sat January 1 2005 Revised 16:18 Fri January 7 2005