The lack of humanity
drives zero-sum
Away from each other
a darkening sun

What science explains
its methods conceal
Frustration attacks
lost cogs on the wheel

Desperation in charge
its point ever sharp
To pierce into nothing
but leaving its mark

That human about us
left bare unatoned
Quantifying our passion
—stripped clean to the bone

(St. David’s Pennsylvania: January, 2021)