I Was There When

It is incredible
The changes
I have witnessed
In the last 50 years.
I remember when
Color televisions
Were first introduced.
I was there
For the change over
From the old
Tube type radios
To transistors.
I saw tape recorders
Shrink from
Bulky reel to reel models
Down to handheld
Digital units.
I watched as
Records and record players
Disappeared.
I was there when
Cell phones
First became popular,
And I saw
Handheld calculators
And computers
Revolutionize the world.
I was there
Before fax machines,
And those infernal
Answering machines.
I saw the Internet
Pull the world
Closer together,
And I saw photography
Revolutionized
By the advent of
Digital cameras.
I was there
Long before Teflon
And microwave ovens,
And before men
Went to the moon.
I was there when
Fountain pens
Were still popular,
And stay pressed clothes
Were introduced.
I was there before
Skate boards
And roller skates
With Teflon wheels.
I was there when copy machines
Replaced the mimeograph.
I watched as VCRs
Came and went.
I was there when
Floppy disks
Actually flopped.
When I was in high school,
Computers used
Paper cards and tape,
And a single computer
Filled an entire room.
The PC had yet
Been invented.
I was there when
The computer monitors
Became flat screens,
And laptop computers
Were first introduced.
I was there when
John F. Kennedy
And Martin Luther King
Were shot.
I was there when
Paint was lead based
And so was gasoline.
I was there when
Asbestos was used
In almost everything,
And I was witness to
The Twilight Zone.
I was even there
For Elvis Presley
And the Beetles.
The world is changing
Faster and faster,
And who can say
What other changes
The next fifty years
Will bring.