Spare Parts

our hips and knees were not
created in God's image after all
but subbed out to a committee
of crazed angels
high on ambrosial nectar
and intent on making man
a little lower than themselves
the design working well
in the early years of
sports and vigorous copulation
then coming unglued with age
like the automatons
the Hapsburgs loved so much
until the gears wore out
and the sputtering figures
were stranded in place

now friends brag to me
about replacement parts
of rubber and titanium
that make them run like new
not suitable perhaps
for long trips and bad weather
but good enough to get them
to the mall and back
without breaking down
a guarantee included
for the first five years
or until you send up daisies
whichever comes first