Some of the principlesI used to hold dear
are dissipating,
dust in the wind of convenience.

Maybe they aren’t principles
so much as things I said I didn’t want to do.
After the COVID crisis,
I swore "No cruises!"
because of the horror stories
of people in plague ships
left aboard boats for weeks
while their viruses festered
and no one would bring them ashore.
Cruises felt like an excellent opportunity
for diseases to coalesce.

Now that I have time on my hands, though,
a cruise sounds really nice.
I’m thinking the UK,
even though they sold their soul out
with Brexit.

I have held on to my ancient iPhone 6S
for seven years now, because it has
the eighth inch headphone jack,
a feature that Apple opted to remove.
I’ve decided to boycott later upgrades
– though I can’t bear to leave Apple.
So I’ve waited until they offer an improved product
but my phone needs to be replaced
as it’s woefully out of date.

I’ll have to get something new.
It’ll have to be an iPhone.
I’ll have to buy from that which I consider the enemy
and it’ll be an amazing upgrade
which will make my life so much easier.

I am going to swallow my beliefs in the name of
smoother transitions.
I don’t know what to do with myself
except live in comfort
and die of shame.