I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

18 April 2010

The Fractal Universe

I love words, not numbers, yet
when I saw Mandelbrot Sets
I fell in love as never before
with those unfurling swirls of colour
opening out or devolving down
in intricate patterns, over and over.

It was a TV special, and Sir Arthur Clarke,
scientist and wordsmith both,
explained it so that I could understand.

These are the shapes of the Universe,
this is its basic structure. Go as far
as you like, further than you humanly can,
in any direction, and always the pattern
reproduces itself, in infinite beauty. This
is the law of nature; this is The Law.

At the end he divulged the most thrilling
point of all. Within this Universal order,
we can even find randomness, built-in.

By the science of mathematics it is proven,
the perfect paradox: yes there is order
predetermined — infinite, eternal, assured.
And there is chaos and spontaneity,
no contradiction. Central to fate, at the core
of determinism, there blossoms freedom.


April PAD Challenge 17
Prompt: a science poem.

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