Hands up
in front of me,
under the spot
of the reading lamp!

Such roaring blasts!

Such mechanical hotshots!

I recall their deeds
with surprise;
so dark, so enlightened,
so cruel, so soft,
righteous & vile,
felonious & loving;

the evolution of ingenuity
laid bare in them,

offered up to man
like a royal tenfold army
or a beggar's hungry void;
the ways of a poem
on a bird of prey;
the lasting thud
of a murderous blow!

Hands up
before me;
mirrored ghosts
under the autumn moon!