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PORTRAIT OF A MACHINE by Louis Untermeyer

May 4, 2010 by Every Writer

Louis Untermeyer (1885-1997)

PORTRAIT OF A MACHINE by Louis Untermeyer

What nudity is beautiful as this
Obedient monster purring at its toil;
These naked iron muscles dripping oil
And the sure-fingered rods that never miss.
This long and shining flank of metal is
Magic that greasy labor cannot spoil;
While this vast engine that could rend the soil
Conceals its fury with a gentle hiss.

It does not vent its loathing, does not turn
Upon its makers with destroying hate.
It bears a deeper malice; lives to earn
Its master’s bread and laughs to see this great
Lord of the earth, who rules but cannot learn,
Become the slave of what his slaves create.

Filed Under: 1800s Poetry, 1900s

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