Each stood in witness of the greatest work of all;
The tribe, the clan, crying Prophecy! before
The urban abyss, the great swath of industry,
Surging amidst the commuter tides, against
the
grain
Of the northbound/southbound march between
The hub, the Mecca, the goal of pilgrimage
And the event horizon of the suburbs.
Beyond vacant corners one could hear
The proselytizers, those faithless promoters
Of an executive order. Repent! they proclaimed,
And Rejoice! Repent! Rejoice! Each heard condemned
The consciousness to which the state had given birth
And suckled, though it offered forth its own lifeblood
In sacrifice to the unborn god.
All civilization stood agape at the sight
Of that manufactured progeny, that
Spawn of an unintelligible being,
Whose iron womb coughs forth deities driven
By something harder than death,
More unyielding than instinct.
The maw of a mechanical biology devoured
The spectators in one great totalitarian
Gulp and imposed this regime of ribbed gears,
Scaly plates, treaded limbs and mandibles.
Many fled to the fields, took refuge in
The wilderness where the whelp of the beast
Couldnt reach, and there they dug and sunk bunkers
Of maple and travertine into the unsullied soil.
They hunkered, shaking and praying, and waited
For the apocalypse to pass.
I revised the above poem:
The Second Coming (an imitation)
Each stood in witness of the greatest work of all;
The tribe, the clan, crying Prophecy! before
The urban abyss, the great swath of industry,
Surging amidst the commuter tides, against
The grain, against the widening gyre,
Against the enigmatic, drawing poles
Of the northbound/southbound march between
The hub, the Mecca, the goal of pilgrimage
And the event horizon of the suburbs.
Beyond vacant corners one could hear
The proselytizers, those faithless promoters
Of an executive order. Repent! they proclaimed,
And Rejoice! Repent! Each heard condemned
The pestilence which the state had borne
And suckled, though it offered forth its own
In sacrifice to the unborn gods.
All civilization stood agape at the sight
Of that manufactured progeny, that
Spawn of an unintelligible being,
Whose iron womb coughs forth deities driven
By something harder than death,
More unyielding than instinct.
The maw of a mechanical biology devoured
The spectators in one great totalitarian
Gulp and imposed this regime of ribbed gears,
Scaly plates, treaded limbs and mandibles.
Thousands fled to the fields, took refuge in
The wilderness where the whelp of the beast
They thought couldnt reach, its hour, at last, come round;
And there they dug and sunk hideous bunkers
Of maple and travertine deep in the unsullied soil.
They hunkered, shook, like little slippery worms,
And waited for the slouching beasts to die.