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Eschewing intimacy,
he
studied geometry
and pondered the logic
of pawns and kings on checkerboard battlefields.
He
reached out and touched
the world around him
by tinkering with engines
and marveling at the meshing of machine gears.
He
felt warmth
from the glow of incandescent vacuum tubes
of his own design.
He
found companionship
playing with ant colonies
putting sugar on his finger
and watching them crawl for sweetness.
He found faith
in the certainty of computer circuitry
and the accuracy of the output.
He always bought bonds with a fixed rate of return
whenever he possessed a principal
finding them a lot less worrisome
than chancing those mercurial investments
that only might yield high interest.
Of course he neither loaned nor borrowed much.
No friend needed him. He needed no friend.
His assets
near the expiration of his term
remained pretty much the same
as when he started,
but he was satisfied
at the final audit that
he made
proper and prudent investments
for himself.
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