(Lyricless) Ode to Fish and Physics

Blue lines carved across the white sea,

Like fish dancing in distorted harmony.

Angry fish, though, dark, deep, and messy

No tender light upon its chaotic ink

A jumble of triangles with no sense about it

Head to tail, yet the fish are subtracted

Arrange them until it seems right

Which one’s the resultant anyways?

Your fish grow tired of swimming

Your hand is fatigued from writing

The fox jumps out of the problem

It’s mouth snarling but quickly dissipating

As the rabbit chases it off with velocity u

Its vector incessantly pointing at the fox

Who’s moving horizontally at speed v

You watch the animals run off the white sea

Your fish can’t keep up the hunt anymore

How are they supposed to know

The distance the rabbit covers while flying off

In pursuit of that annoying fox

How long have your fish been hunting now?

Ten? Twenty? Thirty hours? Thirty, that sounds right

Why won’t your fish just quit?

The fox and rabbit just aren’t worth it

No, they enjoy the hunt, the thrill of the chase

The elation as they grasp at relative motion

The elation as they dive in trigonometry

The elation as they swim through polar system

The elation as they freeze in the polar system

The elation as they thaw in the Cartesian plane

The elation as they realize the difficulty

Water droplets tinkle across the white sea

Indicating a storm is boiling above your fish

Perhaps the fox and rabbit have escaped,

Forever outside of your fishes’ reach

But it’s too late--your fish can’t stop

They’ll never end the pursuit of the puzzle

Lightning can flash, yet the fish remain steady

It was never about the rabbit or fox for your fish

Your fish just love swimming and hunting

Swimming and hunting, the joys of a physicist

Swimming and dreaming, the joys of a writer

Swimming and analyzing, the joys of a mathematician

Swimming and learning, the joys of a human

Swimming and failing, the joys of your fish