Security For twenty years the building has stood Deserted and half-forgotten On a prestige corner in the high-rent district, Badly in need of painting but otherwise in good repair, A monument to all that was modern and luxurious Twenty years ago. Typical of upper-class housing of its time it had everything, All self-repairing, Including radar kitchens, solid-state heating and air conditioning, And Total Security. That was the problem: The Automatic Total Security system proved to be too good And the repair system Was not good enough And one night the electric eye cameras forgot how to recognize people And the robots threw all the tenants out as "prowlers" And refused to let anyone back in. Since neither the owners nor the state nor anyone else Feels that forcing entry is worth a small war The building will stand Deserted and half-forgotten On a prestige corner in the high-rent district For another forty years or so Until its self-contained atomic pile runs out And the former tenants (or their heirs) Can return and claim their belongings. -- Tom Digby Original 21:00 07/15/1970 Entered 16:32 11/13/2002 (title added)