Wow!

You've woven Gray's "Elegy"

Quote:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,


with Goldsmith's "Deserted Village", in reverse

Quote:
Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green:
One only master grasps the whole domain,


and woven it into a post-apocalyptic revival, similar to the lifestyle of those members of the Second Foundation in Asimov's multi-novel.

You remind me of how sad it is: we've begun to reach out and touch the very universe, and yet we no longer touch one another.

But, as Thomas Gray says:

Quote:
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.


Though this is dark, it shows a brightness in the outcome. Humanity has become too numerous to trade back upon a simpler life. Sad to say it will probably take an apocalypse to set things straight again. Sad to say, many will fail to survive without modern trappings when it all falls down. But nature always wins.

I'd venture you're a good steward and survivor.

Gaer