Data Privacy Day (28 January) inspired me to write a eulogy for privacy, given the fact that various US government agencies are monitoring and storing most of the interactions I have with electronic devices of all types.

dearly beloved-
i am writing these lines
to remember privacy

how as a child
privacy let me leave my mistakes behind
and learn better-
false steps only a skin i shed

how as a boy
privacy let me leave those lurid obsessions
in twisted imagination-
future employers ignorance benefit

how as a man
privacy let me leave hateful
unkind weakness in its time-
beautiful present moment

now as a database record
each statement stumble stutter
saved in digits-
weapons against my self

so now let us bow our heads
and await the appearance of
the new liberation spirit!

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