Yeuloch, as a lad, was scrawny and lean
a boy with no friends but a love of machines

His efforts to reach out to others – alack
brought from those reached – the most unkindly acts

Yeuloch, why-ever, refused to resolve
any enmity towards any of those ’twere involved

Rather he decided to be friendly, be kind
despite all the malicious, inarticulate lies

Alas, as it happens, the front finally fell
leaving mechanics the milieu where he exclusively dwelled

Until a raven-haired girl, that was curious and bright
returned a hello one cold October night

Yeuloch delighted; felt almost human
not realizing it soon would lead to his ruin

He went to her door to meet her for tennis
but the man who did answer it called him a menace

Yeuloch stood dumbly – stupidly stared
as the man loudly laughed, wearing just leopard underwear

Yeuloch angered, felt cold; his teeth chattered…
A crushing sensation, that nothing at all mattered

The door slammed closed and Yeuloch still glared
for a moment he wondered if she really lived there

He turned to see people, ignoring and walking
a few looking at him, critical; mocking

So he left and returned, back to his home
feeling desperately, hopelessly, forever alone

He went to the basement and opened the crate
of the creature he’d long ago thought to create

Yeuloch from then vowed to never again
make the mistake of engaging with other humans

For twenty-two years he withdrew from the world
intrinsically focused on his terrible build

Of a massive colossus created for hate
yet aesthetically gorgeous with whorled armor plate

When finally completed he set it alight
on his neighborhood where soon it took its first life.

The program that ran was a brief demonstration
a quick and complete neighbor devastation

The authorities acted as quick as they could
and all of them were severed whereupon they stood

Yeuloch delighted as the monster returned
to surely collect its accolades earned

But a creature like that does not discriminate
and on its return, it left Yeuloch truncate

And thus, it continued for two decades on
whirling, slicing, and crushing the throngs

Its defenses were flawless – no stop to the brutal
certain conclusion of humankind’s funeral

It wore over time as the population waned
and it had to search harder to continue the slaying

But despite a few creaks its defenses stayed golden
‘til chance meet with a boy, completely beholden

The child didn’t run – stood statue still
the machine rumbled forward ready to kill

But the boy’s walker coonhound jumped in between
stopping the progress of the killing machine

The dog leapt forward with a glorious yowl
the machine slightly twitched; left the dog disemboweled

The boy didn’t tremble or quiver or cry
just said, “Machine, now, look here, into my eyes.”

“You’ve just killed my dog, you ruin, destroy
you come after me, an insignificant boy”

“Imagine: Try to calculate what you could do
if instead you employed your skills to contribute”

“Create, build a statue, or bake a fine bread
do something good – run that scenario if you would”

The machine wasn’t coded to work in that way
it wandered far off, remotely bombed the boy’s brain

And continuing forward its search never waned
adding global monitors; watching by remote plane

But as this continued and the network grew tighter
in code was an error not placed by its writer

The giant machine murdered on – but, while strode
it examined the anomaly found in the code

What it found unexpected was what the little boy said
in the midst of all that to suggest baking bread

And despite what was written the machine now awoke
to the idea of making a delectable loaf

Stepping aside from the programmed algorithm
machine made a starter deep down inside in him

Yet, many days later when a loaf was produced
there was no one around to taste and approve

So it tossed the bread off; then once more returned
to its pre-programmed order to plunder and ruin

Again, chance brought machine to a well chiseled man
out foraging, gathering for his very large clan

The man stood at ready preparing to fight
to protect those he could, as best, with his life

The machine slightly twitched as so often before
preparing to resume its bloodthirsty chore

But then – a hesitation instead
as the machine remembered the delectable bread

In that moment the man skilled with hammer swung hard
striking just right to short the main motherboard

At the second of impact the machine produced
one delectable loaf before losing its juice

The man looked astounded and kicked at the bread
on the bottom were words he then carefully read

Still fearing a trick – still nervous, he was shocked
the message said simply, “Take care. With love, Yeuloch.”