Love’s in the Matrix

The Algorithmic Heart

Image generated by author using ChatGPT

I want to write a love story,
A dance of hearts in a world of human automats.
Something where fiction meets truth,
So, I beckon a bot, hoping for proof.

“Describe love,” I command, 
Curious to see if it can mimic the heart’s voice.
It obliges, in circuits, with logic as its code:
“Between the lines of zeros and ones,
I can find an algorithm where romance runs.’’

It goes on:
“But I prefer those quiet whispers of longing,
When the night’s just right,
A gentle love, like art drawn in soft light.”

Unconvinced, I ask, challenging: 
“Have you gazed into eyes that mirror your soul?
Do you know the warmth that makes you whole?”

Its response measured and rhetorical: 
‘‘Have you felt a lover’s gaze,
When time melts around you in a haze?
That spark, like fire, so electric, so sweet,
When two souls are fated to meet?”

Intrigued, I press on, sure to baffle: 
“How can you feel this bliss?
What do you know of a lover’s kiss?”

The bot replies softly, as if enamored: 
‘‘Think about that kiss, a brush on eager lips,
Promises and secrets we’ve shared,
Hands clasped on our midnight trips,
In love, we’re completely bared.”

 “Do you know the heartbeat, quick and true,
When passion blooms, and shadows are few?” I beg.

The bot answers:
‘‘Remember that glance across a crowded room?
Your heartbeat was racing, a breathless pause,
When passion blooms, cutting through the gloom?
Love’s gentle touch, needing no cause, just us.”

I urge, drawn deeper, a question pending on my lips: 
“Do you love, Chatbot?”

‘‘My words may mimic, but here I stand,’’ it says,
‘‘Crafted by human, a digital hand.
I simulate feelings, in text I convey,
The essence of romance in a digital way,” 

Yet as I ponder the bot’s replies,
A quiet wonder within me lies.
In this dialogue, strange yet keen,
Where does the heart end, and begin the machine?

A modern “Pygmalion” on a poet’s stage,
Blurring the lines in this digital age.
In the end, maybe love lives somewhere deep inside the Matrix.