Antikythera Mechanism



The Antikythera Mechanism fits
Comfortably in no category I know;
A thing of Metal, from the Earth below,
For studying the heavens (Fire or Air)
While trapped in Water for two thousand years.
This ancient artefact from cultures past,
Designed to calculate future events,
Has a contemporary feel at last -
Making allowance for its steampunk look.
Not a computer, less whole than distressed,
It sits anomalously, missing bits,
But speaks loud of that loss much more intense  
When the religious dogmas of The Book
Destroyed the nascent scientific quest.

Robin Helweg-Larsen

If you have any thoughts on this poem,  Robin Helweg-Larsen would be pleased to hear them.