Before the accident,
  Our lives were laid
  Before us like
  An unopened book --
  
  Its tragedies and
  Mysteries untold,
  Its secrets beyond
  Our grasp
  
  Now as I speak
  To this creature
  Who looks exactly
  Like Stephen on
  The outside,
  
  I can almost 
  Hear the beeps
  And buzzes of
  Some (imaginary)
  Machine in his
  Head.
  
  But, it is silent,
  And he seems
  To be "normal"
  
  As normal as
  Possible now, I
  Guess.
  
  He's like a 
  Child now, learning
  Everything piece
  By tiny
  Piece.
  
  The doctors 
  Say the implant
  Starts at
  A sixth-grade intelligence --
  
  But this computer
  Never felt the
  First pangs of
  A grade school
  Crush --
  
  It never felt 
  The elation of
  Sending a baseball
  Into orbit and
  Winning the game
  At the last
  Available moment.
  
  It never felt
  At all -- the doctors
  Say it can experience
  "Rudimentary emotion"
  
  What the HELL does 
  That mean?
  
  Digital happiness
  Synthesized sadness
  Plastic love?
  
  Stephen is alive
  Thanks to a
  Miraculous technology...
  
  But maybe science
  With all its
  Wonders,
  
  Killed the magic
  That flowed
  Through his mind.
  
  The days go by...

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