RALPH  KENYON
EXTRAPOLATOR
BACK |

This page was updated by Ralph Kenyon on 2017-08-20 at 01:38 and has been accessed 7777 times at 17 hits per month.

Imaginary Numbers in a Real Garden

Given: one bold mathematician.

Uncertain of his own position.

he drew two lines and at their joint.

where angels danced, he made his •.

Then reached into the void and caught

the faceless essence of the 0,

and taught us not to fear ,

but worship his serene divinity,

whose sacraments at first seem pale;

yet if men hunger for a Grail,

they still may seek, beyond the sun,

the rare √-1.

Gerald Jonas, F&SF Apr 1965