Where Are You People?

I co-mentor a teen writing club with one of my neighbors. One phenomena associated with this venture is the excessive amount of e-mail all these verbose teenagers pack into my inbox. Sometimes they have six or seven e-mail conversations going at once.

But today, there weren't any e-mail messages. None at all. Very strange.

It worried my daughter, so she wrote this poem:

Where are you people?

This morning I got up early
And checked my email, because
I knew that I would surely
Have fifteen messages

But to my shock
To my surprise
I'd an empty inbox
Where are you guys?

Ok, I thought
No need for alarm
They've probably not
Come to any harm

But I checked again
At a quarter to ten

And to my shock
And to my surprise
I'd an empty inbox
Where are you guys?

My face went pale
My heart filled with dread
If they're not sending emails
They must be DEAD!

Ever since the day
We started this
Not a single hour
Have I missed
Without getting an email
Or two or three
But now there's nothing
Where can you be?

It's four forty-eight
And getting late
And I'm getting worried
Oh cruel, cruel fate!

Could I be the last living
Writer's club member?
Of the dying fire
Am I the last ember?

Are you all dead
Are you all gone?
Where are you my friends?
What's changed? What's gone wrong?

Did your characters come alive
Like we joked they would?
Did they kill you all
Did they poison your food? (because that would rhyme with would... ish)

I just checked my email
And to my surprise
I've an empty inbox
WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?