Enjoy the Web but Don’t Get Tangled

That science has been for us a boon I think you will agree

From daily grind and drudgery it sets our spirits free

We have to thank the scientists for research knows no bounds

Discovering and inventing things heretofore not found

But science alone might have remained arid ideology

Without its application in practical technology

So down the years these boffins have changed the way we live

A fact for which our grateful thanks we readily should give

The early work of scientists and ingenious engineers

Wrought huge machines with pistons and complicated gears

They lifted things, pushed them along and kept the mines quite dry

Such powerful machines, thus the nation changed thereby

We saw before our eyes a growing Revolution

For every challenge industry would yield a ready-made solution

What e’r our need, or problems quite refractory

The answer surely could be found within our local factory

As years went by the fruits of science touched every modern nation

Technology made to respond what e’r the situation

Chemical, mechanical, electrical, even jet propulsion

Willingly adopted without the least compulsion

Thus o’er the years the pace of change was evident to all

Large cities, congestion, increasing urban sprawl

But science had also generated considerable wealth

These funds provided for our needs and to promote our health

And in due course the sciences of the past did gradually mature

No longer simply a way in which to master crude nature

Research then applied to the field of communication

To draw us near and thus avoid any alienation

For decades the telegraph, the radio and the phone

Could keep each one of us in touch with those at home

And in due time computers and then the Internet

An even slicker system in time it did beget

Although not many this concept did foresee

Thank goodness for the genius of Tim Berners-Lee

His World Wide Web around the globe would span

Perhaps the greatest gift of all to everyman

Thus by means of this masterly innovation

Links could be forged with each and every nation

And in a instant data drawn from every distant land

Is ours by clicking it when linked into broadband

Thus all we needed to ensure that we possess the facts

Of any sphere of knowledge, or any person’s acts

A simple lesson showing how the web to navigate

And thus the store of knowledge we thus can actuate

In this way access to knowledge hoarded by each profession

Became for every man their right, their very own possession

There is no doubt the opening of this mighty treasure

Expanded power through knowledge in ever greater measure

But perhaps a word of caution about this web worldwide

Too many facts, too quickly found, can lose us in its tide

And simply when we come to think of every answer thus on tap

An attitude can easily develop which then becomes a trap

Everything that is worthwhile requires effort on our part

We therefore need thus to apply both mind and even heart

The web is here to stay and in that we rejoice

But how we think and how we act is ever our own choice

Thanks to the pioneers of science for these useful innovations

For their research has brought to us great help, real benefaction

And when life is dull and sometimes lacks that necessary glitter

All pals can readily unite on Face Book and on Twitter!

Ken Fisher