Pickle me in kindness
So my praises, sweetly sung
May give fragrant, brief reminders
Of the works these hands have spun
Leave no gentle act unlauded
Let no deed pass as unknown
Thus may toil be fair-rewarded
‘Ere we trundle, meekly home
While you while away the hours
In your elevated chair
Someone else is pushing flowers
To ensure you may stay there
And where you ignore their efforts
Just imagine what could come;
If we all were judged on merits
Would you still be number one?
I was only seven when
The world wide web was born
Helped nurture it as it did me
Though sometimes both were torn
Now controversy jostles next
To videos of pets
And governments are waking up
To cybercrime and sexts
They talk of regulation, laws
Protecting those who surf
Such optimism gives me pause
For who can claim this turf?
How would you try to regulate
Where speech is truly free
Outside the firewalls of nations’
Charted territory
They want to sell, or tax, exploit
The assets they don’t own
Regain the power to deny
Dissent has reached them, grown
A massive haul, this data mine
To use for good and ill
Through monetising yours and mine
They hope to profit. Still
While youth retains advantage here
Technology will grow
Though moralists may phish to smear
They will not stop the show
Katherine Shirley 