The Steampunk Heart Poem by Simone Harriman

Deep inside a convoluted portal
My iron pericardium departs
Hornpipes blowing and piston rods pumping
As cave walls release a grieving clans heart

Drifting timelessly in mindful plasma
Through metaphysical doors and mazes
I taste black clots of Tyrian purple
And weigh blood-soaked hearts of gladiators

Through wormholes of war, I delve in sorrow
Power grinds gears; cogs mesh with savagery
In camps of death, I measure mass murder
And know human spirit and dignity

Following a trajectory of love
Poets whisper through my armoured septum
Hatches open, flames rage, and rockets soar
As brass sprockets spin with wild abandon

Deep in the dark web of dastardly deeds
Decrypting onion layered deception
Steam screams through riveted aortic seams
Exsanguinating blood of barbarism

Derailed by explosions of emotion
I sink into black holes of depression
Questioning man's worthiness and purpose
Knowing emptiness and separation

Fibrillating through time, deprived of sleep
Somnambulistic from analysis
My gauges switch gears to resuscitate
Homo sapiens heart in extremis