Springs of Man

The Rivers of Eon flows towards Metropolis,
to feed its aqueducts of Nature and Industry-
springing fountains to cascade brilliantly
in Markets and Man, civilizations last stand.

We stand on a bridge of rainbows on a path through
an orchard that brings gladness from ripe apples
Yonder is Hawking Market wherein robots sell their latest,
and further on the return path to the beginning of creation.

We tarry watching the River Eon to spy on goldfish and cat-tails
that grow wild like a sideways witch-
The rainbow bridge takes but only a moment, but saves an eternity
so we continue to savor the air under Apple that stands tall-
-er than Oak in the wastelands beyond Metropolis' gated walls.
A few warbles from a wren nearby lights up the bridge
to glowing, wavering green, pulsating to its soliloquy.

Hearts full, we continue to the other bank wild
with crazy cat-tails sprouting onto a path amidst,
and out into the orchard. We walk to the sound
of heavy apple planting themselves and
ten-thousand deer scattering the seed.

Feet-sore, we come to Hawking Market
to be pressed back by glaring plantations of billboards and infomercials.
A million lights blink and hum overhead as people crawl over each other
amidst billboards and robotic overlords and carnival rides set up.

We duck into a movie theater and wait in line to buy a ticket
for a romantic comedy of errors, The Lady of Mazes. At the end, a lottery
number pops up on the silver screen and Triton, my friend, wins ownership
to a central vending machine which means both work AND money.

Leaving the movie, we dodge and crawl
to program the business method of it.
Triton babbles on about his good-luck on the way
and I comment how awesome it is to be in the BUSIness district.

Approaching, it recognizes Triton's silver wrist bracelet he's holding out
“Root Access” blinks big and red from the front panel;
Triton quickly plugs in his AI from a small memory stick-
weeks later he'll be able to buy another hydraulic magneto
to run another vending machine.

Triton is lucky he got a break-in product
that will seed itself like a stellar big-bang.
I return home to drink a beer and sew up the tears
in my torn retina.