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)