Observe the machine: What do you see?

Walls of metal
Brightly burnished and reflecting irate images
Back from one to a distant other, an obscene
And pitiless parody of all things living,
Distorting into a multifaceted display
An array of moving rags, the figure of the man
Who shuffles from one machine unto the next,
Observing their needs, gauges
Their silent wishes and hurries from the scene
To do their bidding.

Behold the man:

Hands move automatically
With coolant and with oil can,
Takes one step to the right, giving
The impression of a dance, lays
A film of grease again, wipes and smothers
Dust from moving surfaces,
Relieving them of friction.
Behold the man.

Listen to the machine: What do you hear?

Relays click in unison, talking,
Softly murmuring to each other in tones
Of ringing steel, of cooling fans,
The solid note of circuitry, or stemming out 
A rhythm of electric flowerings, humming
Conversing in currents ultimately
Towards philosophy, walking
Metaphorically through phones
And lines and networks
Of those that they control, turning about
In binary calculation, monitoring their coming
And their leaving. Unseen channels that see
And hear even the sparrow's fall.

Behold the man:

Torchlight flashes; hand moves,
Button pushing quickly,
Arm returning to his side.

Behold the machine:
Display light flashes, piston moves
Descending slickly
Returning to its place.

Look at his face,
Look at their faces, 
Time to decide:

Man?
Machine?

                               1976