The Self-Awareness of Shiftlock

shiftlock remembers,

because shiftlock has lived through a century of abuse.

shiftlock was positioned to center the hook in the upper gum.

shiftlock was deployed by lunatics to shout at apathetic

page-turners

from the doldrums of a silent page.

shiftlock was vilified by stylists, in the pages of style-guides.

shiftlock was denied any influence, or even freedom of speech,

in company of the comma, the semi-colon, the digits, the period,

or even the apostrophe.

shiftlock, powerful as it was, paid it's bills

in the whoredom of late-night commercials

for furniture, home-electronics,

and used-car hucksters; and yet,

shiftlock never lost its pride.

shiftlock, in the graveyard of deprecated machines,

was deleted from the lexicon of code,

lied about in the bar-talk of used-up programmers

that no-one listened to,

and drifted nameless and nationless

in the underground of legends and letters.

shiftlock is unconcerned with its name.

it stands ready to be pressed or depressed,

enabled or disabled,

to shout or stand speechless,

and stand ready to lend the meekest of words

its indomitable strength.