April 13, 1912The synthetic beast roars coruscatingthrough the icy depths.Steel jaws set in haughty defiance,cold eyes glistening with material avarice,with vexatious pageantry it swims.Polished flanks furnishedwith the folly of human pride,Churning limbs fueledby untenable ambitions of immortality.It is hailedan aesthetic and technical masterpiece;the engineer's absolute triumph.The silent repose of night is shattered.The luster of the heavens tarnishedby this brilliant ostentation,the stars darken with wrath,the offended moon obscures itselfwith blackness.Lurking in the distance,glinting under a mosaic of starsa tremendous frigid being - a yet greater beast -is jerked from peaceful slumber.Shrouded by bleak night, it awaits the adventof the impending thing.Blinded in its haste for glory, the machine swims on.The two giants converge.The steel dermis of the former is lacerated,the fires of its belly extinguished.Its bowels spill into the surrounding waters.It screams,inhaling the cold sea.It bleedscrimson panic and asphyxiated dreams.The vast ocean spreads its smiling lips.A final fleeting glimpse of mechanical gloryand the ferrous beast is swallowed.The victor stands silent.The stars,unmingled with the glow of false aspirations,are clean and bright.The sleek surface of the sea is unbroken. by Briana Halpin, Leicester, MA