Thinks - Sphinx? Poem by Michael Shepherd

Yes but has anyone tested it lately?
(Or Him. Or Her?)

Well, wouldn’t you get fed up?
You’ve sat there, haunched,
for tens of thousands of years,
all your friends have long ago gone
to that place you could tell tourists about
if they only asked

but no, they take photographs of you
or pay over the odds for them,
make silly rude comments
about your missing nose,

concoct theories about the Pyramids,
eat fast food, Nile style, which goes through fast,
and you’ve waited all that time
for even a half-decent question
which could pass on the wisdom of ages,
hit the Nile on the head,
restore civilisation to its true stature,
questions that didn’t arise
when the pyramids were being built
since they reckoned
they knew the answers

like, how did it all begin? or
have you allowed for the precession of the Poles? or
where do your builders go
on the days they’re not here with you?