In the Next Life, Canto III, stanzas 135-138

The second time he stood before the beast,
he should have been less anxious than the first.
From ignorance his mind had been released.
A known phenomenon is not accurst.

He was not scared by that, at any rate.
The fear he’d faced before was history.
As well, though, was his life up to that date,
and change is scary, though it upward be.

So once again a frightened little boy
walked up and heard a greeting from the rear.
The first one, though, had not been words of joy.
Nothing like “Welcome home” had touched his ear.

The next twelve months, when not on other jobs,
he studied manuals and diagrams.
He practiced working levers, wheels, and knobs
so he’d know how to run these giant prams.

The one in which he lived would never go.
For centuries it had been motionless.
He could observe the current models, though,
by working with his newfound patroness.

©2010 Louis A. Merrimac