Classic Poem

I LEARNED the calculated laws behind
The dreams that sit within the poet's brain,
And men became automatons, designed
To move in three dimensions, down a plane.

I heard the pulleys of creation creak;
I saw the artifice that shapes the show,
The pressure given to make the puppets speak,
The hidden strings that danced them to and fro.

It seemed that everything then stopped for me:
Only the monstrous tick of time went on,
Echoing idly down eternity
From dawn to empty dawn.