TIME CAPSULES

 

TIME CAPSULES

On the first day of spring in 2021

I went to Flushing Meadows Park

To look for the Westinghouse time capsules

Actually the time capsules are fifty feet underground

In 1965 when the World's Fair ended

They placed a seven thousand pound 

Granite monument to show where 

The time capsules are buried

And that's what I was searching for

I had a picture of a map telling me

Approximately where the monument was located 

In a part of the park I don't normally walk through

Which is why I had never noticed it before

When I reached the destination

I saw two teenagers sitting on one of the benches

Surrounding the monument talking and laughing

The girl was stroking the boy's hair

Quietly I took my pictures of the round structure

With engravings outlining the history of the time capsules

As a testament to the accomplishments of the twentieth century

In 1938 and 1965

Materials were deposited into time capsules

Including:

Seventy-five different types of fabrics

A pack of unfiltered Camel cigarettes 

A Sears Roebuck catalog

A Harper's magazine

A quote handwritten by Albert Einstein

A Beatles record

Also a microfilm with over 

Seven hundred and fifty thousand signatures 

(Originally a book which if you attended the World's Fair in 1964 or 65 you could've signed and gotten a pin stating your name was entering the time capsule)

After taking my pictures I left the young couple to themselves

I sat on a rock a short distance away

Facing the Grand Central Parkway

As the cars traveling East and West passed me by

I couldn't help but make the connection between 

The time capsules (which will be dug up 

In the year 6939 and the contents

Shared with the people of the seventh millennium)

And the puppy love of the boy and girl

Who will more than likely forget their

Carefree day spent

Next to the granite monument intended to last 

For thousands of years