Shostakovich String Quartet no 8 in C Minor

Faster        faster                even faster 
Fly the wheels of industry  –      turningturning
Hurry hurry      keep moving         never stopping 
All is        synchronization        regimentation

We     the workers      cannot stop
The machines     ever smarter     ever smarter     swallow us
Faster faster                 ever faster 
humming like insects
The machines talk to each other,            a frenzied tune

We workers cannot sing       sweet songs            anymore
Our music is crushed like grapes                    by the sharp blades
Of the machines               that command           that control us

Only the whispers of a few old men resound in these 
Haunted halls --  muttering       bbbbbbbbb           ggggggggg           
 Endlessly  screeching      tzzjxzprtz!    myzzxltwz!         unintelligible 
 Lamentations –     for the dead.

℘℘℘℘

Norma Felsenthal Gerber is an educator, journalist, and photographer whose work spans literature, public affairs, and the visual arts.