Warmer

They cut the heart out.
And hauled it away.
Iron cast nerves
In sheet metal grey.

Lag bolts and valves,
Flanges and fans,
Motors now quiet,
Once spun and ran.

Out in day light
Pale green tower.
This house held its' breath
For a chilly grey hour.

Forty full years
Of cigarette fumes,
Sorrowful echoes,
Neapolitan tunes.

Housework and homework.
Rattled its’ core.
Family folk rhythms
Beat buoyant no more.

Capillaries, arteries
Coiled the frame
Gasping and hissing,
Whispering our names.

Inhaling the sighs
Of dusted, swept rooms.
Does it now matter?
For what and to whom?

On sidewalk stretched out,
Torn from its’ pedestal.
Naked and feeble
For neighbors to ogle.

I remember the former,
A hulking ore octopus.
Now it’s successor,
A soldier, much lesser.

When baby arrived,
Cradled into its' cavity,
It cooed once again,
Pushing heat against gravity.

But the echo and tone,
Of a one handed clap,
Proclaimed my warmed heart
Was now left for scrap.

3/8/21