The Fourth Bridge

Q: Please write me a sonnet on the subject of the Forth Bridge.

--one of the questions from the Turing Test devised by Alan Turing to discover whether a hidden entity, such as a computer (or a blogger, for that matter), is sapient


A: Let us suppose the bridge to be the Fourth
(Not cantilevered above some Scottish firth,
Entraining passengers to Queensferry North),
Successor to First, Second, & Third on Earth.

First is what Tristram was so long a-doing;
Second is upgrowing at whatever age;
Third is, of course, the mystery of dying.
So what is Fourth, when do we reach that page?

The female simulacrum in the sealed room
Posts piping secrets through her handy slot;
Unhelpful demons, scheming in the gloom,
Wildly mistake the that that is for that that’s not.

So long as women puzzle--and men can be,
So long lives that; that that makes sense to me.

--Amolosh

Well?

Nous sommes
le 23 Ventôse, An 217