Caretaker

Caretaker at Star’s End,

         He wanders rough paths

through an empty ruin,

         where humans once played.

He invents new methods

         to torture his fellow

beings with machines,

         both mechanical

and bestial,

         without benefit.

No unclaimed bone lies

         exposed, each grave

an open case, derelict

         even of memorial stone.

His eye may rest here and there

         against rusty relics of motion,

but no breeze stirs these ruins

         and no spirit leaves a track.