Peacock

I am a peacock
My mind is my tail
And, that tail... has taken a beating.

My thoughts
Such pretty things!
I wonder on subjects that perplex the best!

Council of Nicea
Source of syphilis and chlamydia

Malthusian doom
Or Star Trek's plenty

I read Marx, Machiavelli, and Plato
Talk of T.S. Eliot and Michelangelo

But my thoughts are just for show
A Chatbot clone that fails real testing.

I am what happens
When a child tries to build wetware A.I. to replace absent social skills
And keeps trying... for 17 years.

And, perhaps from a distance, the effect is magnificent!

But, not on closer inspection.

The outer feathers are aided by paint, or entirely fake
The inner are shabby or broken from too distant molting.
And everywhere, there are mites and midges.

I put fragments of remembered articles together
Building supposed knowledge from half remembered
And less understood
Hypotheses.

And either I can not
Or, I will not
FLY
It's been so long since I tried....

I don't remember anymore.

AND YET
I'm lonely.
In every way I can imagine.
I'm lonely!

And, all of which I seem capable...
Is this useless display!

So...

*Struts, spreads and wags tail, crows as loudly as he can*

Here I Am.