Fire in Progress

You build the machine.
It topples over.
You build the engine,
And then you lay siege
With it to starve out

Whoever you’ve trapped.
The engine explodes.
You build a new one
And bombard the coast.
Slaughter indigenes.

The machine explodes.
You build a lot more.
You conquer the world
Or most of the world.
There’s fire in the hold.