You weigh the notion of a brainless clone
Whose liver, kidneys, bladder, lungs and heart
Exist for when you need a body part,
An eyeball here, a skin graft there, a bone
Or two when yours go soft and it alone
Provides a match, an instant a la carte
Facsimile of you, though not as smart.
Your baby's born, its duplicates are grown
Like peas and corn, or raised like mindless sheep,
The goal, disease and injury control.
You watch, bemused, as human values shrink
And population takes a quantum leap.
The question now is how you weigh the soul
Of one who lives and breathes, but cannot think.

[First published in Troubadour]