Nostalgic Tracks

Nostalgically, whimsically
I always thought of an engineer
brooding over glass-plated dials
with hands pulling levers, switches
giving his engine
a spoon-fed organic diet
of wood or coal
on a preordained route
tooting his shrill horn
at anything that moved
waving at plowing farmers
saluting gawkers he passed
bellowing smoke in his wake
a reciprocal plume rising from
the coal, wood burning stoves
of track-side houses

All too soon,
manual-powered engines morphed
into complex, mechanical engines
automation supplanted man power
electric grids replaced the human brain
wiry conductor was superseded
by the stodgy techno-nerd
sitting at his key board
splicing algorithms
geometric coordinates
into his computer
gleaning his dividend
from companion printer,
coded designs
that only a savant could deduce