A Mathematical Problem
This is now--this was erst,
Proposition the first--and Problem the first.
I.
On a given finite Line
Which must no way incline;
To describe an equi--
--lateral Tri--
--A, N, G, L, E.
Now let A. B.
Be the given line
Which must no way incline;
The great Mathematician
Makes this Requisition,
That we describe an Equi--
--lateral Tri--
--angle on it:
Aid us, Reason--aid us, Wit!
II.
From the centre A. at the distance A. B.
Describe the circle B. C. D.
At the distance B. A. from B. the centre
The round A. C. E. to describe boldly venture.
(Third Postulate see.)
And from the point C.
In which the circles make a pother
Cutting and slashing one another,
Bid the straight lines a journeying go,
C. A., C. B. those lines will show.
To the points, which by A. B. are reckon'd,
And postulate the second
For Authority ye know.
A. B. C.
Triumphant shall be
An Equilateral Triangle,
Not Peter Pindar carp, not Zoilus can wrangle.
III.
Because the point A. is the centre
Of the circular B. C. D.
And because the point B. is the centre
Of the circular A. C. E.
A. C. to A. B. and B. C. to B. A.
Harmoniously equal for ever must stay;
Then C. A. and B. C.
Both extend the kind hand
To the basis, A. B.
Unambitiously join'd in Equality's Band.
But to the same powers, when two powers are equal,
My mind forbodes the sequel;
My mind does some celestial impulse teach,
And equalises each to each.
Thus C. A. with B. C. strikes the same sure alliance,
That C. A. and B. C. had with A. B. before;
And in mutual affiance,
None attempting to soar
Above another,
The unanimous three
C. A. and B. C. and A. B.
All are equal, each to his brother,
Preserving the balance of power so true:
Ah! the like would the proud Autocratorix do!
At taxes impending not Britain would tremble,
Nor Prussia struggle her fear to dissemble;
Nor the Mah'met-sprung Wight,
The great Mussulman
Would stain his Divan
With Urine the soft-flowing daughter of Fright.
IV.
But rein your stallion in, too daring Nine!
Should Empires bloat the scientific line?
Or with dishevell'd hair all madly do ye run
For transport that your task is done?
For done it is--the cause is tried!
And Proposition, gentle Maid,
Who soothly ask'd stern Demonstration's aid,
Has prov'd her right, and A. B. C.
Of Angles three
Is shown to be of equal side;
And now our weary steed to rest in fine,
'Tis rais'd upon A. B. the straight, the given line.
poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
There are many crooked lines and one straight line. Which is the line of truth? Why the straight line? Truth is always the shortest distance between two points.
quote by Sun Myung Moon
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
If 1 And 2 Were Equal
If 1 and 2 were equal
we'd have as many hearts as fists
If 1 and 2 were equal
we'd have confused shopping lists
If 1 and 2 were equal
there'd be less phone numbers to dial
If 1 and 2 were equal
noon would surely last a while
If 1 and 2 were equal
there'd be a nose under each eye
If 1 and 2 were equal
you couldn't say no to 'you and I? '
If 1 and 2 were equal
I think I'd be much more happy
'cause if 1 and 2 were equal
I would not be so lonely
poem by John W. McEwers
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest.
quote by Arthur Schopenhauer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Dieu A Fait La Femme
Geometry shows us God’s great fondness for lines
In the gazelles, birds and butterflies as well.
Everywhere we search in the midst of His designs,
Even in the sea we find many an animal in his shell.
Not stopping His ingenious design with mere creatures,
Or objects He fondly blesses with roundness,
That appear most often among celestial features,
He drew woman’s figure most curvy and boundless.
The womanly figures are of an exquisite selection,
Running the perfect outline from legs to hair,
Expressing haunting beauty with divine perfection,
And designed to please the heart willing to dare.
With circular lines it seems that He began
Depicting the face and hair with round design.
He moves then to the bust with a span,
And with symmetry amazes with the circular line.
Now on to the waist with its hyperbolic form,
He shapes with alluring symbolic notion.
Now cycling to legs God departs the norm,
And now straight lines obtain His promotion.
All of these sacred shapes and borders,
God draws from the world’s great sweep.
He conveys them from land’s four corners,
Cross mountains high and valleys deep.
God is the master of geometric arts;
He is the architect of spherical dreams.
And He fashions woman’s celestial parts
From the lines on landscape’s four extremes.
Now all of this is just to make very clear
My prayer that you be my spherical dream,
With starlight in your flowing hair,
Your glory will fuel my modest esteem.
poem by Albert Price
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Dignity
at par
with you
my equal
in this fight
you are
so gentle
when i
lose the grip of
my sword and it falls
on the ground
you have the courage
to pick it up
for me and tell
me
i need it most now
and then
the point of the sword
now faces
frozen at the eye
of my heart
i stare
coldly and i perspire
to the thought
of my death
at this point
you say
tnanks it is fair
and i look at
you again
at par
shoulder to shoulder
my equal
you let me go
you put your sword
in your scabbard
and take the stride
on your white horse
and leave me
agape my mouth
opens
you are at par
with me
my equal
you have all the chance
to kill me at once
but you didn't
you make me live
now
a new man
a fighter rising from his fall
gentle and
brave as ever
to fight
my own wars.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Line Is Fine
Look at me I'm so disgusting
I will never find another
Quite like you
You make me blue
With the things you do
Look at you you're so familiar
We could be so cool together
All the time
Could all be fine
We're on the line
The line is fine
Open up mah window
The line is fine
Standing on the ledge
Well I don't look down
Looking at the people
Well they all look fine
It's not just life or death
Yesterday we talked together
But tonight it's just the weather
Chillin' me
What's the point in silly talking
We could get there quicker walking
Down the line
could all be fine
But we're on the line
The line is fine
But staring at the faces
Standing in a row
Think of all the places
That they have yet to go
They don't know
song performed by by Travis from Good Feeling
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal.
quote by Helen Keller
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
What's The Use
What's the use of paradise or everyday of livin'?
They spend and learn in Heaven, sin in Hell
What's the point of children
When evil got before them?
They learn in every tale we tell
There's no point in being kind
What's the use when love becomes an evil of the mind?
Oh Yeah!
What's the use of power
When the battle isn't equal
And we're all too Scared to use it anyway?
What's the point of reason
When no one wants to listen?
Deliverance is all too far away
Oh what's the use?
Oh what's the use?
Tell me, oh, what's the use?
What's the use?
Love becomes an evil of the mind
What's the use?
What's the use?..
song performed by by Black Sabbath
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Straight Out Of Line
Theres no reason, theres no compromise
Change in seasons, living the high life
I dont know you so dont freak on me
I cant control you, youre not my destiny
Straight out of line
I cant find a reason why I should justify my ways
Straight out of line
I dont need a reason, you dont need to lie to me
Ill confess this: youre my tragedy
I laid you to rest just as fast as you turned on me
Gone forever, banished the memories
Displays of pleasure are masked by your misery
Straight out of line
I cant find a reason why I should justify my ways
Straight out of line
I dont need a reason, you dont need to lie to me
Lie to me
Straight out of line
I cant find a reason why I should justify my ways
Straight out of line
I dont need a reason, you dont need to
Dont need to lie to me
Lie to me
Lie to me
Lie to me
song performed by by Godsmack
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Looking and going back...
there were layers of years.
you were on one of those layers. You are blue,
a line of blueness, in between those other colors,
You are always the silent kind of blue.
They skip you and find you one of those insignificant lines.
The years pad each other like the barks of a tree.
You are one of the bold strokes now. Time does it.
They you go back to that old layer. You were blue.
You make some squeezes, and etchings on those other lines.
They squeak like rats.
You tell them that once you were there and you were the blue line.
They fully remember. But there is no difference really.
Your thinking is misplaced. You think you are different now.
No, they didn't. You finally regret going back.
You retreat once again inside the room sit on the chair.
You are a blue line. You corrugate a little bit like a magnetic ecg line.
But it will not last. You are a straight line now.
You watch TV till midnight. There is nothing significant.
You are still a blue and straight line. That you have to accept as a fact.
You turn off the TV. A nice sleep is always a better alternative.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Turning Point
she was taught nothing but straight lines
and her life has always been like the way she was taught
a straight one
no curves, no angles, no secants,
nothing to decant, nothing foamy, everything is settled
like some mathematical principles
solid, stoical, hard, sturdy,
devoted to nothing but study
laughter is strange
the frown is welcome, and
like a stuffed toy did she become
in one of those cabinets
she bathes in the antiquity of her silence
until she exploded, she was shattered into
concentric pieces, tangent minuscules
her mouth foamy, her eyes all too hazy
her neck strangled, and we took turns
looking at her scattered limbs.
on this turning point of her life,
the straight line travels dissolving as air
in a distance.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A playful destiny
Helplessness,
Sheer helplessness,
Those moments of great disappointment,
Empty pocket,
Stuffed mind,
Stuffed with various desires,
The more they strike, the less they are met,
It turns bad when we are the centre of every hope,
God is also the centre of all hopes,
But there is a difference,
He is nothing to do with our joy and sorrow,
He rewards them whom he wishes,
His treasure is great,
It never reduces,
But we have trifle given by Him,
And still we are the centre of many hopes,
We are clasped in the cruel jaws of destiny
Whom He controls with all His might,
Come what may, We will get only what we are destined to,
Whether we live or not.
poem by Mohammad Akmal Nazir
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Cross The Line
We have no way to see eye to eye
Through all the walls in their mind
These are the pleasures that terrify
So leave them behind
You keep the chains that are in your life
Well take flight of the dove
Theres only one way to satisfy
This feeling thats love
And Ill say it again, and Ill say it again
And if the power comes between us
Oh, Ill know what to do,
Im gonna say it to you
Cross the line tonight,
Take this chance and show your might,
All the worlds on the other side,
Cross the line
Raise a flag to a moral crime,
Well light a fire for this,
Make the papers by morning time
And lay in our bliss
So come on darling and share my mind,
There is no need to stay hid
cause all we are now is two of a kind
Can you believe what we did?
And Ill say it again, oh, and Ill say it again
That when the power comes between us
Oh, Ill know what to do,
Im gonna say it to you
Cross the line tonight
Take this chance and show your might
All worlds on the other side
Cross the line
Mother come to me now,
Take this hand now, Im afraid
Mother, come to me
Im bleeding
We had no way to see eye to eye
Through all the walls in their mind
These were the pleasures that terrified
We left them behind
And Ill say it again, and Ill say it again
And if the power comes between us
Oh, Ill know what to do,
Im gonna say it to you
Cross the line tonight,
Take this chance and show your might,
All the worlds on the other side,
Cross the line
song performed by by Spandau Ballet
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A fraction of the mental sphere
dawdle a line over white
a meteor has shuttled
through space,
a fraction of the white
the distance the time
it travels from your mind
to the piece of white
two inches in one's mental sphere
equal two million miles in space
space steals its way from mental sphere
the way you chart the line in white,
that catches only a fraction of the mind
put space and mind side by side
the latter would convulse as it
charts its own boundlessness
beyond the former
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Equal
equal,
..equal,
...equal,
....equal,
.....equal,
......equal,
.......equal!
dont it sound good?
wouldnt it feel good?
think about it,
and then do something about it!
equal!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
At This Great Distance
Memory
Ancient light from a binary star
Bends across a receeding tide
A single point of light st this great distance
At this great distance only the eye
Pressed against the telescope of dreams
Sees two stars
Two stars, two white hot lines on a firey white
Spinning madly on lines defined
By each others gravity.
And by the time we see
The light of memory
There is no hope
Theres no hope
Only memory
They danced to songs
Played at the speed of light
Red shifting
Untouchable
At this great distance two stars, two souls
Become one single point of light
Not hot
Not cold
Not you
Not me
Only memory
Chorus
Only memory - at this great distance
(repeat to end
song performed by by Level 42
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Heart On The Line (Skeletal)
Win some lose some
that's the way I play the hand I get no sense in getting sore.
it comes easy or it never comes at all
and I get somethng off a lesson that's a lesson to us all
Call a teacher, let him answer if he can
what am I gonna do if I can't take it like a man.
What do they want a boy to do if he's done no wrong
the only thing he did was lay his heart out on the line.
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
<
Inside, outside
doesn't matter where you're standing 'cause you always a marked man
Thou a crazy in a lazy kind of way
If I don't get up this morning well what difference does it make.
Call a preacher let him save a drowning man
how can he ever sleep at night with evil all around
So ring a bell for Brother Al, he never did no wrong
The only thing he did was lay his heart out on the line
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
His heart out on the line
<
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
<
Ooohhhhhhh, Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
Ooohhhhhhh, Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
Ooohhhhhhh, Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
Ooohhhhhhh, Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
When it's good, it's oh so good
When it's bad it's better.
There is no pain then there's no gain
when you stand at the centre of it all.
So could a healer come on down to this great land
I really don't know what to do I just don't understand
Let's ring a bell for Brother man, he never meant no harm
All he had to do was lay his heart out on the line
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
His heart out on the line
<
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
{It's up to me, it's up to me)
<
song performed by by Level 42
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Circles
Round and around in circles
that seem to go nowhere,
gives me the feeling I must move along
for there is no time to spare.
If I were moving in a straight line
wherever it was I could define.
But with a circle there's no end in sight.
And so I find it asinine
to reach for a certain point of light.
For my life is a circle and so is yours
and all that we do we've done before.
For a circle continues and never stops
and the end is how we've begun.
poem by Edwina Reizer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Poetic Friend
I just met a friend on line who
complimented my poems of verse and rhyme.
He saw something in it which I can’t describe.
As if we had became one of a kind.
It was as if I had become the poetry
Instead of it coming out of me.
My poems and I became as one
As the sky with the sun.
This is a feeling which I find hard to
Put into words, like a voice which
Had never been heard,
Like the final door that has to be opened
And you have the key, that will set your
Mind and heart free.
Is there really a point in life
Where we become what we write?
Have I really gotten to such a threshold
Or is it that I’m getting old?
I guess I’m getting old!
For this is the story that I’ve been told.
Ha-ha got to love it!
poem by Louis Rams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Line Is Fine
Look at me Im so disgusting
I will never find another
Quite like you
You make me blue
With the things you do
Look at you youre so familiar
We could be so cool together
All the time
Could all be fine
Were on the line
The line is fine
Open up ma window
The line is fine
Standing on the ledge
Well I dont look down
Looking at the people
Well they all look fine
Its not just life or death
Yesterday we talked together
But tonight its just the weather
Chillin me
Whats the point in silly talking
We could get there quicker walking
Down the line
Could all be fine
But were on the line
The line is fine
Chorus
But staring at the faces
Standing in a row
Thinking of all the places
That they have yet to go/they dont know
song performed by by Travis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!