What we’re here for
is death
Somebody accidentally
wound us up
(“I told you
to leave that alone”)
and we must
wait
to run down.

george effinger
George Alec Effinger (1947-2002) American author [a.k.a. O. Neimand, Susan Doenim]
Poem (1972), “Things Go Better, Orbit 11 [ed. Damon Knight]
    (Source)

Collected in Effinger, Mixed Feelings (1974).