Man, that clever beast,

Claims his throne not by birth but conquest.

Fire once danced wild in forests deep,

Now bows in furnace, stove, and heap.

Tamed flames lick metal hands,

Purring like domesticated cats.

Lightning, nature's jagged spear,

Once split gods' realms without fear.

Now runs through copper veins,

Powering our mortal domains.

The ancient sea, that dark expanse,

Bearer of storms and circumstance,

Reduced to highways paved in blue,

Carrying cargo, old made new.

Solar fury, cosmic king,

Stripped of crown and golden ring,

Harnessed in silicon arrays,

Feeding our electric ways.

Wind spirits, once wild and free,

Now spin turbines endlessly.

Their whispered songs of liberty

Transformed to mechanical melody.

Each force of nature, one by one,

Falls to human will, undone.

Yet in their chains, they seem to say:

“Remember what we were that day.”

For in our rush to dominate,

We rarely pause to contemplate:

These powers we so proudly tame

Once bore divinity's true name.

Man stands triumphant, chest held high,

While conquered elements softly sigh,

But victory holds a hidden cost:

Paradise tamed is paradise lost.