Deus Ex

Orestes, though a matricide, was saved
from the Furies when Athena
stepped out of a machine to absolve him.
Hippolytus the pure was not spared, but a dragon-
chariot was sent for Medea
who murdered her children.

Abraham must not be discounted, when he strangely
bound his son and raised the knife.
An angel intervened, but still
I will call him child-slayer.

Humans hold no horror
for these mechanical gods. Beyond human,
they sustain those who have gone
beyond human, beyond love, beyond all comprehension--
almost machines themselves, save this:
that perhaps mercy remains.