A brain in a vat – that is all that I am.
I’m a lag in the jug, dead beef in the can.
Thinking’s all I can do, my realness surreal.
An existence so strange that there’s nothing I feel.

My mind is alive but my body is not.
Where I am I know nothing, and what I know not.
In an ogre’s laboratory, mad scientist’s lair?
Does anyone know me? Does anyone care?

Not to stand on the earth, or enjoy a flower’s scent,
I do nothing but ponder, and wonder what’s meant.
Does my life have a purpose? Am I just a toy?
A tool for amusement? A plaything for joy?

My world is a construct: illusion at best.
A life simulation: intelligence test.
I’m a brain in a vat, a snail in a shell,
suspended in purgatory, heaven or hell.

See here for the inspiration for this poem.