The Secret of the Machines | The Poetry Foundation

The Secret of the Machines (MODERN MACHINERY) Advertise with Poetry Poetry Magazine Poetry Magazine Archive Submit to Poetry

We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine, We were melted in the furnace and the pit— We were cast and wrought and hammered to design, We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit. Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask, And a thousandth of an inch to give us play: And now, if you will set us to our task, We will serve you four and twenty hours a day! We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive, We can print and plough and weave and heat and light, We can run and race and swim and fly and dive, We can see and hear and count and read and write! Would you call a…

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• Emil Ryd

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