Escape (Dyer's Lament)

                You may have lost your job
                Or never be able to retire from it
                You can't afford to go out
                But you can always stay home
                And play a video game

                "Virtual" is of course
                The digital
                The on-screen world
                As opposed to existence
                In real life

                "Virtual" also denotes potentiality
                The directions in which
                An actual situation
                Might develop

                Computers create potential universes
                Where spaceships battle
                With photon torpedoes
                Just for fun

                Turning the apparatus
                Of American air defense
                Into a digital playground

                Converting it into commodity form
                The basis for
                A multibillion dollar industry

                Virtual games
                Give themselves a dynamic autonomy

                Virtual games
                Generate intense human immersion

                What do these playthings of empire offer?

                Escape

                Escape

                Escape