16 Years Ago Today:
Endgame
Metaphor for Morphean morphosis,
Dreams that wake, transform, and
die,
Calm and lucid this psychosis,
Joyce's nightmare in Escher's
eye.
At the end there is a city
With cathedral bright and sane
Facing
inward from the pity
On the endgame's wavy plane.
Black the knight upon that ocean,
Bright the sun upon the
king.
Dark the queen that stands beside him,
White his castle,
threatening.
In the shadows' see a bishop
Guards his queen of love and
hate.
Another move, the game will be up;
Take the queen, her knight
will mate.
The knight said "Move, be done. It's over."
"Love and resign,"
the bishop cried.
"When it's done you'll stand forever
By the
darkest beauty's side."
Dabo claves regni caelorum. By silent shore
Ripples spread
from castle rock. The metaphor
For metamorphosis no keys
unlock.
-- Steven H. Cullinane, November 7, 1986
For related material, see Shine on, Hermann Weyl.