by Gideon Burton
How could we be the measure of all things?
With time and space, we've learned that time and space
outrace, outreach the instruments we bring.
Infinities surround our petty race,
and all of our devices only show
how crude and small and transient humans are.
We map and mark the worlds above, below,
our wooden slides rule metering the stars;
with confidence assert the mass of time,
the warp and woof energy and matter.
The quantifying stairs are set to climb;
omniscience just a rung atop a ladder.
We probe, we scan, anatomizing wonder;
cold math to mask an exponential blunder.
Photo: flickr: aldoaldoz
Since I really don't like math, it seems right to me that it should be the villian in this piece.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! How can we claim to be the measure of all things when we cannot truly measure the universe around us?
ReplyDeleteBeautifully worded. I enjoyed particularly the flow of these lines,"We probe, we scan, anatomizing wonder;
ReplyDeletecold math to mask an exponential blunder."