Shelf Life

No more mirrors in supermarkets
 No not even in the toilets
 The eyes that fix on future eating
 Packages avoid the greeting
 Shift and stare in strangled fleeting
 Glimpses of a life retreating
 Onto shelves to be a part of
 Human process
 Now I'm just a product on a shelf
 Saves me having to try to be myself
 Here's the art of mass consumption
 Eat the heart of self-respect
 Put your feet up on assumption
 And watch the adverts do the rest
 Now 'Goods' are anything that's sold
 And sold dictates a loss
 Bottled up we sit reflecting
 Life's expensive
 Now I'm just a product on a shelf
 Saves me having to try to be myself
 No price is right for what was free
 But now comes blaringly brand new
 This bottled water taps the need
 To wash the processed poison through
 To what degree does quality
 Now sink to pass its brief exam?
 Whose sights were set to make us feel
 So happy for so short a span?
 The slaves who push the buttons
 Greet the slaves who buy the stuff
 We're on the path to madness
 And can't get there fast enough
 Now I'm just a product on a shelf
 Saves me having to try to be myself