Tesla's Hotel Room

In the last days of wonder when spirits still flew Where we sat holding hands in half-darkened rooms Nicola Tesla in the hotel New Yorker Nursing sick pigeons by the open window Dreamed of a death ray to disintegrate matter Detected Morse code drom faraway planets He couldn’t stand the touch of hair or of skin But stroked feathers gently on trembling wings And drew plans for a camera to photograph thoughts Vacuum tube lights wireless phones In the last days of wonder when spirits still flew Round bubbling test tubes in half-darkened rooms Edison and Westinghouse in silk brocade Ate oysters Rockerfeller with French champagne But Tesla grew thin eating only saltines Going days in his lab without any sleep Dreaming of God as an X-ray beam He was hit by a cab while crossing the street Lying on his bedspread, he struggled to breathe The light bulbs exploded, the air filled with wings In the last days of wonder when spirits still flew Tesla vacated his half-darkened room