Edison (excerpt)

Life is but once and then there is dark night we are dying in the ruins of light like day-flies, like a flash of lightning And now the sky beyond the trees is brightening electric wires tremble in the snow now promenades and corsos are aglow now our souls are viewed on the X-ray screen like ichthyosauri from the pliocene now the clock's hand is moving towards six now we go off together to the flicks now spectral shades of gamblers and of witches are put to flight by our electric switches and now applause and cheers ring through the house and Thomas Edison now takes his bows The party's over now your soul is dark the guests have left and you are back at work Look at those inventors and at their resources yet the stars have not deviated from their courses look at all those people living quietly no this isn't work nor even energy this is adventure as on the high seas locking oneself in one's laboratories look at all those people living quietly no this isn't work it's poetry It's intention and a bit of accident to become one's country's president to become a poet who's outstripped you all to become a songbird holding you in thrall to be always lucky at roulette to be the discoverer of a new planet A thousand apples have dropped in profusion but only Newton drew the right conclusion A thousand people have had epileptic seizures Saint Paul alone had his converting vision A thousand nameless deaf have sought a haven but only one of them was Beethoven A thousand madmen have considered ways but only Nero could set Rome ablaze A thousand inventions come to us each season but only one of them was that of Edison