didnât look
He measured, hands performing
A theodolite not prayer.
A dot behind the eyes held cosmography
In thrall, geometry intuition as he spanned
Paced and taped a kingdom in a day
Triangulated oceans in one night.
God took the credit
Every action in the world was His,
All seas and continents. He led
Footsteps on and filled all hearts
A wind banging the canvas sails
Of a ship whose crew was drunk
On loot, lewdness and the Lord.
Rejected Lucifer was bruised
Since science followed him not God.
He melted raw materials, lay rails, grew cities
Rolled lightning in a drum and made it work.
Adamâs sons ripped milk and honey from the earth
And God was praised.
But Lucifer saw his limp on every foot.
LUCIFER THE MECHANIC
Lucifer invented speed, taught
That one slow pulley drives a fast,
A sluggish stream revolves a mill
How fire melts and wind shifts
And iron floats and alloys fly.
Luciferâs willing scholars learned
How one metal cuts another
And steel spread on a spindle
Is in its weakness flaked
By a stilled blade set against it.
A lubricated drill-tip
Tempered to diamond strength
Spins to steel clamped in a jig:
By playing speed to altered speed
Steel teeth in a circle
Mill into a shank of steel.
Lucifer in every lathe
Manufactured objects beyond
Manâs vulnerable version of himself;
He unmade God, and at his most demonic
Turned Man into an industrious mechanic.
LUCIFER AND REVOLUTION
When workers assembled at the station
Lucifer had waited since the swamp was drained.
Jutting chin and jaunty cap and posh Swiss overcoat,
Finger stabbing the air to rights,
He licked his Tartar lips and stroked
His beard, nodding sharply
At each injustice he would cure,
Clipped decisive words in steam-train language
Knit the crowd into carded fabric
Any pattern could be printed on.
He had waited long for such deep cheers
And smoky mosaic of faces,
Dimmed his eyes to just the right amount
Of inability to see the future,
When the mob would do such deeds
As burned all sensibility to ash:
âOh boy, we did that fucking castle in!
Splintered every lintel, broke every brick.
Those Old Masters burned a treat.
Forty years ago the duke raped my mother
So I plugged his duchess-daughter.
For the Revolution, of course â
We should have one every day!â
The shock-detachment of the Revolution came
Behind a glistening array of guns:
âAll right, chaps, funâs over.
You work for us now, what?
So build that castle up again.
And who was that swine raped the duchess?
His trial starts tomorrow.â
âThe purity of Revolution shines
Bright for all to see,
A moral force that cleanses
Cleaner than the sea.â
âYouâll be sorry you spoke,â
Comrade Lucifer retorted
When everything got out of hand.
âYou helped to make the Revolution,
Now youâll be voted to the wall
Or destitution unimaginable.
Iâm not Hamlet lost for a yes or no.
Iâll make an omelette any day
And break as many eggs as there are heads.
Chickens lay all the time!â
His grin was geological â under the moustache.
The assassinâs bullet didnât kill
But scared him. He vanished.
Only One could play that game and win.
LUCIFER TELEGRAPHIST
Lucifer, Godâs listener,
Took telegrams in any code
Or language, heard
the blissful separation
of those who would never touch again
the marriage of a thousand needles
knitting both victims till death
the assault of a new mouth
soon to connive at the smash of nations
the frantic beggary of save-our-souls
when a shipâs parts separate in revenge
on those who ripped wood and iron
from the generous soil
communiqués that order war
when other greeds have failed.
Happiness and agony went through his heart,
Godâs ears not enough.
He wanted power to end all suffering
And call it peace.
Rebellion failed. Robbed of Godâs favour
Lucifer sat in universal grief
So
He measured, hands performing
A theodolite not prayer.
A dot behind the eyes held cosmography
In thrall, geometry intuition as he spanned
Paced and taped a kingdom in a day
Triangulated oceans in one night.
God took the credit
Every action in the world was His,
All seas and continents. He led
Footsteps on and filled all hearts
A wind banging the canvas sails
Of a ship whose crew was drunk
On loot, lewdness and the Lord.
Rejected Lucifer was bruised
Since science followed him not God.
He melted raw materials, lay rails, grew cities
Rolled lightning in a drum and made it work.
Adamâs sons ripped milk and honey from the earth
And God was praised.
But Lucifer saw his limp on every foot.
LUCIFER THE MECHANIC
Lucifer invented speed, taught
That one slow pulley drives a fast,
A sluggish stream revolves a mill
How fire melts and wind shifts
And iron floats and alloys fly.
Luciferâs willing scholars learned
How one metal cuts another
And steel spread on a spindle
Is in its weakness flaked
By a stilled blade set against it.
A lubricated drill-tip
Tempered to diamond strength
Spins to steel clamped in a jig:
By playing speed to altered speed
Steel teeth in a circle
Mill into a shank of steel.
Lucifer in every lathe
Manufactured objects beyond
Manâs vulnerable version of himself;
He unmade God, and at his most demonic
Turned Man into an industrious mechanic.
LUCIFER AND REVOLUTION
When workers assembled at the station
Lucifer had waited since the swamp was drained.
Jutting chin and jaunty cap and posh Swiss overcoat,
Finger stabbing the air to rights,
He licked his Tartar lips and stroked
His beard, nodding sharply
At each injustice he would cure,
Clipped decisive words in steam-train language
Knit the crowd into carded fabric
Any pattern could be printed on.
He had waited long for such deep cheers
And smoky mosaic of faces,
Dimmed his eyes to just the right amount
Of inability to see the future,
When the mob would do such deeds
As burned all sensibility to ash:
âOh boy, we did that fucking castle in!
Splintered every lintel, broke every brick.
Those Old Masters burned a treat.
Forty years ago the duke raped my mother
So I plugged his duchess-daughter.
For the Revolution, of course â
We should have one every day!â
The shock-detachment of the Revolution came
Behind a glistening array of guns:
âAll right, chaps, funâs over.
You work for us now, what?
So build that castle up again.
And who was that swine raped the duchess?
His trial starts tomorrow.â
âThe purity of Revolution shines
Bright for all to see,
A moral force that cleanses
Cleaner than the sea.â
âYouâll be sorry you spoke,â
Comrade Lucifer retorted
When everything got out of hand.
âYou helped to make the Revolution,
Now youâll be voted to the wall
Or destitution unimaginable.
Iâm not Hamlet lost for a yes or no.
Iâll make an omelette any day
And break as many eggs as there are heads.
Chickens lay all the time!â
His grin was geological â under the moustache.
The assassinâs bullet didnât kill
But scared him. He vanished.
Only One could play that game and win.
LUCIFER TELEGRAPHIST
Lucifer, Godâs listener,
Took telegrams in any code
Or language, heard
the blissful separation
of those who would never touch again
the marriage of a thousand needles
knitting both victims till death
the assault of a new mouth
soon to connive at the smash of nations
the frantic beggary of save-our-souls
when a shipâs parts separate in revenge
on those who ripped wood and iron
from the generous soil
communiqués that order war
when other greeds have failed.
Happiness and agony went through his heart,
Godâs ears not enough.
He wanted power to end all suffering
And call it peace.
Rebellion failed. Robbed of Godâs favour
Lucifer sat in universal grief
So
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