They think we’ll rejoice,

Offered infinite choice.

But in fact more is less;

Indecision means stress.

Why think it is clever – –

While wasting our time

(a maddening crime) – –

To propose the adoption

Of every damned option

Under the sun,

Instead of just one?

 

Just take the car,

Where they’ve gone much too far.

Do I have to recap

The ten types of hubcap

The number of doors,

Colored carpets on floors,

The bumpers, the hoods,

Powered windows, faux-woods?

One mentally cowers

In the face of horse-powers,

Different colors and trims,

And personalized shims.

 

Take the cereals on offer:

A hundred they proffer,

And do so in aisles

Stretching out there for miles.

Vitamins added in endless array

In confusing proportions of C, D and A.

If you read all the labels,

Ingredient tables,

I very much fear

It would be a career.

 

Hi-tech sort of gear

Is a category where

They include lots of stuff

That you don’t use enough,

Or remember it’s there,

Or particularly care.

The shops you buy through

Mostly haven’t a clue;

The instructions are vast,

And a whole day has passed

Before you work out

What the item’s about.

 

Oh, take me back home

Where the buffaloes roam,

Where you rock in your chair

In fresh air with no care,

Where in the boondocks

The shops have small stocks,

And you’re settled and done

With a “choice” of just one;

And you buy your provisions

With no endless decisions,

Just a simple invoice and

No multiple choice.

 

So who’s going to tell

The people who sell

That we’re doing just fine

 Without over-design?

Who’s going to complain:

“Keep it simple and plain”?

Let it do just one task,

That’s all that we ask.

I’ll make a new start:

“Give us less à la carte”!

Come, you too can rejoice

With more time and less choice.