I walked quickly past a string of department stores
With an eye in every window
Marveling at all the new toys
Saw kids no more than ten years old
Falling into a new celluloid world
Of computerized special FX
While on another screen stood René Levesque
Shouting orders en Français
The teachers who had just had their salaries cut
Shouted something back at him
I didn’t understand what they were saying
But knew in any language what the words would mean
1983

The cost of gold has stabilized
While OPEC is still at war with one another
Over setting higher prices
The Soviet Union is still building their bombs
And the States aren’t doing much better
The roads are filled with Chinese and Pakistanis
Driving Japanese cars
And every pedestrian J-walking across the street
Is plugged into a Sony Walkman
Seems the only language they all understand
Is 1983

Stats Canada just reported the bankruptcy rate
Up again 1.3
Another drug pusher has just been busted
This time a retired policeman
Now it’s not that I don’t like progress
My new Ford Escort handles just fine
But I can see by the eleven o’clock news
On my rented color TV
The factory workers down in Windsor
Are still very much on strike
Now I don’t know what they’re shouting out
Walking in that picket line
But I know that bread and butter
Never changes languages
Not even in ‘83

© 1983
Inputted and revised © 2017

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10/12/2017

Posted on 10/12/2017
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti