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Before
A blood red sky all day all night
Brown paper flowers at every bush you see
Conveyor sidewalks to take you anywhere you wish
Naive gray bears wander into grocery stores often.
Has the sky always been red? A deep blood red, pastel and gut-sickening. Or was it blue like in fairy tales?
Has it always had stringy black clouds that decorated the sky? Or were there fluffy white clouds, as told in legends?
Has the sky been the same all day all night? Or did it brighten and darken as shown in paintings?
Has the sky always been the same?
Have the brown flowers been brown and only brown? Or were there ever different shades, as we have always dreamed of?
Have the flowers always been made of rough paper? Or were there flowers of a natural texture, like those of synthetic flower designs?
Have the flowers always been small, or has it ever been big and gorgeous, like those so-called sunflowers in pictures?
Have the flowers always been the same?
Have the sidewalks always been charcoal black? Or were they once grey, like concrete buildings?
Have the sidewalks always moved us from place to place? Or did the humans have to walk by themselves as assumed in the pre-technological age?
Have the sidewalks always been an ugly black, or was it ever a variety of rocks, like sand at a beach?
Have the sidewalks always been the same?
Have bears always been grey, or have they been brown or black as made sense in evolution?
Have the bears always been a fan of human food? Or have the bears had it's own natural source, like rabbits nibbling on grass?
Have the bears always been comfortable around humans? Or was there ever a time when they were afraid of the monstrous species we are?
Have the bears always been the same?
Has anything ever been the same? Did we always live in a colorful yet dull society, with human convenience but boring lives?
Has anything ever been the same?
This is a piece I created years ago and decided to revisit. Heading towards the post-quarantine age, this felt relevant to now.