Chapter Text
Born in this era
All I've ever known was melancholy
Monochrome sights
Never fail to make me wilt
Perhaps if I was born later
When everyone older didn't know
Didn't mourn the loss of a world I had never seen
Full of bright colors
And cheerful lights
Maybe I would have been happier
But everywhere I look
Has a story to be told
The walls that keep us in
That keep us safe
They speak of a time where those were never necessary
When a message is sent
A letter via birds
They speak longingly of something called a phone
Something that sends it instantly
And let's someone contact another
Without the journey's delay
Some people still have theirs
A little black box
It doesn't work anymore
But I don't know how it would have worked
Maybe magic
And when we eat
All gathered around a feeble table
That creaks and bends under my plate
They whisper and murmur
About the Before
Where the wood didn't rot
And the food was flavorful
I'm not sure what that means
All our meals are bland colorless things
That never fill me enough
They said food was plentiful back then
Everything had a different taste
And different colors
Colors much brighter than the ones I see today
They were even taught different things
I learn how to survive with what we have
And they learned about things like countries
Those existed back then
Whatever they are
They don't exist anymore
Everyone's too busy trying to make it past another day
I want to learn those things too
I want to know everything about the Before
But they never answer
They just get all sad and ruffle my hair
Telling me it's not good to dwell on the past
Sometimes I feel like they're lying
Surely if a place like that existed
There would be proof somewhere
And there was
People just didn't like to share it
Everything ages
So the photos and trinkets
Are all so worn and fragile
They're so faded and delicate
I sometimes wonder if it'll last another day
I don't ask for it anymore
It's not fair for me to take it
But I ask for stories instead
Because those can't be broken
And if I remember them
Maybe we can make it happen again
It would be nice to see what everyone else used to
It still hurts sometimes
To know I was born an eon too late
They speak of devices lost to time
Dreams now unattainable
Clear blue skies
Fluffy white clouds
Gleaming metal
Smooth concrete buildings
Rainbows after the rain
They say: "If I could just eat that one more time, I can die happy.'
When I ask what that means
They smile, wrinkles at the corner of their sad eyes
And say: 'You can no longer find such things in the After'
I want to know the Before
I want to know the good and the bad
Of a world that so many have lost
You cannot miss what you have never known
I suppose I am different
For I wish for something that was destroyed long before my time