People Who Talk To Themselves

When I was younger the one thing I feared
was growing older and talking to myself.
I would see these befuddled elders
wandering the street in heated conversations
with no one but themselves.

I thought it was a sure sign of failure
if I ended up alone in the world, with no one
to care for me, so that I was forced
to wander the streets alone in my own company.

The thought more fearful than this,
was to be younger and talk to groups
of invisible faces, gesticulating and
muttering even raising my voice
to legends of tormentors
visible only to my feeble brain.

What I couldn’t foresee in my youth,
the affect of technology upon the population.
Where elders and youth alike would look
like they were talking to themselves.

They are on the streets all alone and yet
they raise their voices in anger, make kissing sounds
and use theater whispers to utter the unspeakable.

I've overheard business deals at car washes,
lover’s quarrels in bank line's,
and petty gossip at the grocery store.

What happened to the world?
Has everyone lost their mind?
Why else would so many
behave so completely insane?

They all have cell phones.
Hand free devices,
to carry on conversations
where ever they go.

Don't think I'm saying
they are not quite mad
and their behavior,
is really quite normal.

All I can say;
“Though these behaviors are common
it doesn’t make them right,
nor should they be practiced
so openly in public
among polite company unless
they have dementia
or are legally insane.”