In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

! -- T.S. Eliot

What would Buonarroti think,

Landing in U.S.A. today?

From Toys-R-Us to Compu-Link

His name's our culture's main mainstay.

At first, perhaps, he'd be amazed

His genius spans the centuries.

Pieta still leaves 'em dazed;

Sistine's ceiling still can please.

"Nah, Mikie's not some boring dead guy --

like, this turtle freak, y'know?"

(As some kind kid would clarify)

"These chemicals, like, made him grow."

As Buonarroti scratched his head

Some hardened software type would say:

"Your hard disk data's simply dead

If Michelangelo has its way."

Thus, baffled, would the great man flee

-- With floppy disk and turtle gum, too --

Back to the 16th century

To tell them just what things would come to.

Buonarroti saw in marble

Heroes struggling to be free.

Trademark sales and hacker's garble

In Michelangelo we see.