Asymmetry and Symmetry
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
The snow has melted
On the right-hand shoulder of
The Great Bronze Buddha.
Shiki [Englished by Phillip Whidden]
Asymmetry is strong in nature’s plan,
Though sometimes symmetry occurs, but when
This happens, underlying laws will scan
The situation, intervening then
As fast as possible to kill that flaw
Replacing it with lack of balance. Moons
Are formed in nearly perfect spheres, but law
Requires the smashing of them, making dunes
And craters, sometimes even crushing shapes
To dwarf-like fragments. Snowflakes come but melt
Away to water. Physics uses scrapes.
The undertowing law despises svelte.
The vacuum that symmetry inspires
Dido’s lament by Purcell:
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