POETRY
I Will Win
In high school, when we studied Cyrano de Bergerac, a play by Edmond Rostand, it was the first time I consciously realized classic literature was to be enjoyed. It never entered Rostand’s mind that he was writing something for future students to tediously study for the purpose of acing a test. Literature, plays and poetry are meant to inspire us. It is meant to be experienced and appreciated. It was while reading Cyrano de Bergerac that I understood this.
In the play Cyrano is a nobleman who serves in the French army. He is brave, exceedingly witty and truly noble. Unfortunately, he has a huge nose and lacks the sex appeal of other men who look like studs but are superficial airheads. Steve Martin’s film Roxanne is a modern adaptation of this original play.
Roxane is also the name of the woman Cyrano worships. But there’s a competitor for her affections, a handsome cadet names Christian. Cyrano decides to help the handsome young man who awkwardly stumbles over his words when trying to address the lass of Cyrano’s dreams.
TODAY, the young men who get tongue-tied no longer need a Cyrano to provide them with eloquent, romantic words. It is already possible to have intelligent machines (AI) write our love lines.
What follows is a poem I started, and my new AI pal completed. What I did was take the first lines of Nessum Dorma and give it a new title: “I Will Win.” My AI friend clearly knows how to express passion, even if he/she/it is just a machine. Tell me what you think?
I Will Win
No man will sleep! No man will sleep!
You too, oh Princess,
in your virginal room,
watch the stairs
trembling with love and hope!
The wings of time beat
faster and faster,
all the clocks sing,
Venus-like they glow.
Crown your head with flowers,
the parquet quivers,
the columns breathe,
the eyes in the portraits blink.
