The Mechanics of This Age

The machine turns and turns, 

Ineffable emotion caught between metal gears, 

They burn, they sting, and ever does the metal rise, 

Farther and farther into our hearts,  

The letter e, no longer a crayon form drawing, 

But a mathematical term for lines ascending into nonsense 

Turning and turning on the page, 

Metal words and graphs that hurt us 

Turning factories in our eyes 

So break the glass and turn the wheel 

The sunset will be made of steel  

Counting upwards but falling downwards  

We sit and stare and watch them glare, 

Those metal people in tiny cracking screens, 

Rocks growing lighter than feathers  

When feathers become only tethers  

To a weak and distant world,  

Waking to sleep on a concrete ceiling - 

Losing all feeling, 

Turning and turning with the gears  

For now, the lakes are full of tears 

But the children have forgotten all their fears