The horses of the 21st century. You studied
Photographs taken in the earlier fin de siecle
And photographs from twenty years later,
Particularly of urban scenes. What
Did you see? Horses, horses everywhere
In the earlier images, automobiles clogging
The thoroughfares of the latter. It won't be
So obvious from imagery this century, but
If you can think back to the beginning
Of this artificial fantasy, you may recall
Humans, bleeding humans, responsible
For a greater and more substantial variety
Of things than they now seem to have
In hand. You went down to the sacred store
Where you knew the clerk from years before,
And you asked him why the sign "For Sale."
His answer was he himself had become
Too expensive to compete with the robot
Dispensing advice from across the street.
No, you couldn't see it. Across the street
Was a grassy lot beside a small motel.
And then you did. The robot dwelled across
A commercial thoroughfare, in the air,
Neither here or there, and gave you credit
Or not from deep within the new machine,
Which had its reasons, none you'd seen.
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