A machine doesn’t forget
(until it breaks, of course)
and the hinges snap
an engineering flaw
succumbs to the inevitability

of time
at the point of weakness

or the data iterates
within itself into
final nonsense

or the delicate
chemical
production
methods
get lost

in the war, or better yet, replaced
by something new, better,
exponentially more destructive.

A machine doesn’t forget and I can barely remember.