"Schrodinger's Top Hat"
18/7/06 11:59![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bronze_ribbonsThis is an old poem of mine that appeared in Star*Line a ways back (July/August 2003). I'm reposting it here because it's still one of the better villanelles I've written, and because I'm being thumped by a quantum plotbunny (e.g., Dumbledore as Niels Bohr, Neville as Wolfgang Pauli, Draco as Werner Heisenberg, Lupin as George Gamow, Snape as Enrico Fermi...).
Schrödinger's Top Hat
Either there's a rabbit, or there's not,
but if you wait, a rabbit may appear
but even if you wait, it well may not.
Some might say that magic's merely rot --
a cheerful shake of superstition's snare.
Sometimes there's a rabbit, sometimes not,
but even if you skip the wheel and slot,
the sidewalks show more cracks from year to year.
Will your mother blame you? Maybe, maybe not.
It's hard to read the future when you're taught
not to cross each corner 'til you're there
whether rabbits wait for you or not.
And even if the scarves stay bright and taut,
will the coins fall freely from each ear?
Even if we wait, they well may not,
but 'til the fingers fail to catch what's caught,
joy can leap from nowhere like a hare:
either there's a rabbit, or there's not,
no matter if you wait for it or not.
Schrödinger's Top Hat
Either there's a rabbit, or there's not,
but if you wait, a rabbit may appear
but even if you wait, it well may not.
Some might say that magic's merely rot --
a cheerful shake of superstition's snare.
Sometimes there's a rabbit, sometimes not,
but even if you skip the wheel and slot,
the sidewalks show more cracks from year to year.
Will your mother blame you? Maybe, maybe not.
It's hard to read the future when you're taught
not to cross each corner 'til you're there
whether rabbits wait for you or not.
And even if the scarves stay bright and taut,
will the coins fall freely from each ear?
Even if we wait, they well may not,
but 'til the fingers fail to catch what's caught,
joy can leap from nowhere like a hare:
either there's a rabbit, or there's not,
no matter if you wait for it or not.
- ~ pld
Tags:
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
18/7/06 22:49 (UTC)Thank you for sharing; I do love this!
Mary
Re: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
19/7/06 14:54 (UTC)