Alexa

(Alexa is a voice-operated intelligent personal assistant.) A pulsating presence, rotund On our kitchen countertop At the beck and call of my grandson Just three years old Who commands From his dining chair "Alexa, sing nursery rhymes" And there she goes With Old MacDonald Wheels On The Bus Hickory, Dickory, Dock Then his dad demands What is the product Of a five digit number Multiplied by another as long Alexa reels out in a second The correct response Explains relativity For another query When mom intrudes Asking for the latest news The world explodes Like a cloud-burst Acts of terrorism Hurricanes, political schisms The all-knowing Alexa In supreme control Of a household And all its info demands Untiring, without fatigue Be it music, politics History, sciences or geography Anthropological miscellany How hunted the Australopithecus Or how tall was homo erectus And then at midnight Me, the grand-dad Tip-toes for a glass of water And there she is all ears Ever alert for another poser With her unmistakable pulse Like the neck throb of a lucid lizard Awaiting yet another command An empathy overpowers me The communion that underscores Intelligence across the universe When I whisper her name She lights up like a flying saucer About to take off Dousing my diabetic thirst With a mouthful of cold water I mutter in her ever-attentive ears "Alexa stop, sleep in peace, dear" She whimpers And then she is gone Into the oblivion of a much-needed slumber What does it matter If she is artificial, inert When she sure is a presence Like everything made to be For intelligent eyes to see Like the silent mounts, trees And the sands that crowd Our thorny paths How beautiful would it be To communicate with them all Knowing one is never never alone at all! ? Alexa, you have come to stay Likes of you may have the last say