VULCAN'S MERCY

Utopia’s price tag …

Hard-chromed and brutally alloyed
he fed the scrapyard hurricane.
Melting metal, his brawn enjoyed
the splash of sweat cooling the pain.

The weight of the world discarded
at the foot of his furnace lit,
he struggled to make soon parted
its history -- hard and fast writ
in twisted iron and mangled steel.
Stoking the fire, hellishly hot,
a cauldron of memories once real,
he freed the souls of things forgot.

Now thick from his lethean flame,
smelted loose of its heavy years,
the once plucky metal flowed tame,
shiny new without smiles or tears.

[Note: The painting to the right is "The Forge of Vulcan" by Luca Giordano, late 17th c.  It is part of the collection at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.]

Utopia’s price tag …

Hard-chromed and brutally alloyed
he fed the scrapyard hurricane.
Melting metal, his brawn enjoyed
the splash of sweat cooling the pain.

The weight of the world discarded
at the foot of his furnace lit,
he struggled to make soon parted
its history -- hard and fast writ
in twisted iron and mangled steel.
Stoking the fire, hellishly hot,
a cauldron of memories once real,
he freed the souls of things forgot.

Now thick from his lethean flame,
smelted loose of its heavy years,
the once plucky metal flowed tame,
shiny new without smiles or tears.

[Note: The painting to the right is "The Forge of Vulcan" by Luca Giordano, late 17th c.  It is part of the collection at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.]