The Men Of Industry

Consider the long work of the men of industry:

these steps
carved with
tools of stone,
bronze. iron,
steel;

the rails alongside
carved from wood
with tools of stone, 
bronze, iron,
steel;

all the fires
used to forge 
the tools,

all fueled
with wood peat
coal and oil of whale
shale and the blackened
deep raised from beneath
our feet.

They’ve been building for so long.

How much higher 
does the monument
have to tower
over the stench
for them to be able
to stand on top,
breathe deep of the smoke
and carnage below, 
and call it good?