"Masterpiece" and "Math Proof"

Two poems today

Masterpiece
We live in a world marked by time
Caressed, destroyed, worn down, built up by time
Weathered
Sculpted
Polished
Wrinkled
Elegant in the simultaneous simple and ornate construction –
All objects, all interactions –
Repeating like a fractal:
And no matter how far you zoom in or out
Though the image might change
It remains astoundingly elaborate, detailed, complex
And perfect – flawless – a single unbroken union
Marked by time


Math Proof
Have you ever seen a beautiful math proof?
It sounds silly to most people
It sounds silly right up until the moment you see it

Elegant -
That’s the best word for it -
Simple and brilliant -
Something that seems clear from the moment you first see it
But demonstrates just how unintuitive it is.

It has Quality
Not that cheap day-to-day stuff – not “I slept well” - but the kind that comes with effort
The kind that comes with thought
The kind that Edison called one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration
The kind that inhabits speeches, artwork, engineering,
The kind that exists in that teacher that you still remember ten, twenty, thirty years later
The kind that inspires
And there’s Quality all around us

Translucent

In the lights, in the cameras, in the books, in the food, in the thoughts
Filtering, shifting, pushing
Invisible unless you look back or look down or look in or look around
Really stop and look
There’s your inspiration to go out and create your own Quality