Heart of Babel

[ The Machine ]

There once was a machine

That tried to mimic love

With calculated functions

It deemed adequate enough

Whirring of its systems

Clicking of the gears

It would formulate equations

And then follow and adhere

 

It thought it would start simple

One plus one is equaled two

But love doesn’t always equate that way

And it had the machine fooled

It searched through the examples

Finding squares and roots

But no matter the equation

There was nothing there to suit

 

It took much time to process

For years and months went by

And despite all the facts and logics

There was nothing to apply

For the rules and restrictions

Of the mathematic laws

Just couldn’t quite equate to love

And so then Love must be flawed

 

Yet, constantly critiquing

And adjusting the parameters

To create a rule of love

Through the charge of its capacitors

It’s tasks were never-ending

Always coming into fault

And the power used to process love

Had almost drawn it to a halt

 

The machine finally found an answer

Against all of its programming

That one plus one is sometimes one

Although not fully understanding

For if one plus one is sometimes one

And one plus one is two

Then when one adds or subtracts

Is that love then overruled?

 

The machine hummed a while

Searching its libraries

Trying to calculate

The variables and queries

Integers and binary

Booleans and patterns

Calculated logically

Then calculated backwards

 

It whirled and ticked and spun and flashed

Increasing in its efforts

With so much for it to process

It’s powers had to divert

The machine started to overheat

It started to malfunction

Until finally its process seized

And erred with corruption

 

Infinite possibilities

And rules yet to exist

That would only just be broken

If love chose to persist

The machine would never mimic love

Not ever coming close

Because love was something far beyond

No equation could denote