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!