The total energy of
An isolated system
Remains constant.
Energy, like matter,
Is neither created
Nor destroyed.

I know this.
Which is why I went
Quite confusedly
Through my isolated system
Searching for the energy.
Any I could find.

Oh, I did find some…

Seeping meekly from
A trio of mismatched bulbs
In a dusty, bug-filled fixture…

Buzzing in brief, menacing bursts
From the wings of a paper wasp
Seeking refuge from the rain…

Falling in the incessant sleet
Of fingertips on keyboard and screen…

These were remnants
(Or so I thought)
Left behind after some
Unseen exodus of energy
From one end of my
Isolated system
To another.

Energy has a sound,
A smell, a feeling.
It should have left a clue
When it relocated.
A thunderclap
A whiff of ozone
A flash of heat
As the energy retreated
Into the attic, perhaps.
Or the toolshed.

The absence of energy
In an isolated system
Has its own sound.
A pitchless, timeless drone.
Audible inertia.
And it smells like apathy
Sprouting in old dishwater.
Feeling? That’s a tough one.
That requires a bit more energy
Than I can find right now.

I’m beginning to suspect
That the energy took one look
At this isolated system,
Gave William Rankine the finger,
And destroyed itself.