Gone Haywire at the Sight of

I was walking alone on a street, and lifting my head I disbelievingly

saw the metal blades of a wind turbine,

Dormant on its white stalk, and projecting high from a building top.

And they struck at my eyes, and I wondered for what place 

Had it dominating the city’s skyline. And I must enquire upon it.

I took off my old overcoat, and I stood still, for though it was

winter, the giant three spiked head way above me fired in me

a sudden great anger. Crowds were now gliding past me.

And they seemed bemused by my outcries,

For I have not seen one pointed so heavenly high.

Then I went up and down the streets, crying with a loud voice,

Making a curse on this city’s scarecrow. I went into the building itself,

pacing to and fro in the frost furled foyer shouting as before.

And yet strangely no one laid a hand on me.

 

I went back through the streets, and I imagined

Great drafts blew down them, and the glass windows

appeared as though they might smash into smithereens.

Soon cyclonic forces took up their residence.

And there was much commuter discomfort.

Then suddenly I was overwhelmed by a peace of mind

and I left the city in an agreeable manner.

I had gathered my coat even though I felt no cold.

My anger was such in my mind and in my body, and all over me,

And I felt a strange kind of freedom.

Here had I just ranted like a lunatic at this genuine sky scraper,

A great clone of many that I see in pasturelands,

On distant cliffs; looming high above homesteads.

This city now has one, but to me, what was it for?

 

And I asked myself, for what reason should I have ranted like I did.

And truly did I imagine disasters befalling this city.

Remorseful I sat down beside a roadway and I pondered.

I recalled that in the time of great power shortages

countryside wind farms were not enough.

As renewable energy was in its infancy there were frequent black and brownouts.

I had walked daily through turbine forests and around them listening.

I tramped the wind turbine countryside for years listening.

And I was listening for the force which came from them.

And it interested me how the force was drained from them

when the winds wouldn’t blow.

And when I suddenly saw this one high on top of a city building, I quickly

found myself troubled by its distance from me.