Pinball [poem]

[Underground_Network]

A coin is jammed into the machine
And a small, metallic ball pops out.
A button is pressed and the ball jumps.
It glides across the terraform
Until momentum and gravity cause it
To slide back down to its origins:
The pits of hell.

Another button is clicked
And the ball is saved from
Its ultimate destiny.
It slides across the surface,
First to the left, then to the right,
And then it starts spiraling
Back down yet again.

A third button is pressed
And the ball is saved yet again.
It seems to have a tendency
Of pressing its luck,
Though the tendency of its protector
To press the necessary buttons
Seems to be saving it from its ultimate destruction.

Numbers at the head of the machine
Keep going up and up as the ball bounces
Around and around and around.
It seems to never stop, and whenever it starts
To lose momentum and fall back down again,
A button is pressed to save it from a devastating collapse.

But then, after hours of flying around,
The ball misses the extended arm of its protector,
And the press of a button cannot save it now...
It falls through the cracks, and meets its ultimate destiny...
A clank is heard and the protector looks down in distress...
Its all over, its all over. But then--completely unexpectedly
Another small, metallic ball pops out... And a button is pressed.
And the ball jumps.