Helping With Math Homework
In the beginning
there were polynomials
differences of squares
trial and error
and the sum of two cubes.
X2 minus Y2
has always had
the same meaning
whatever it is.
But when Pythagoras
looked into
the eye of a triangle
and saw the solution
I wasn’t there.
Nor have I ever found
anything more
than safety in numbers.
This is the new math
these are your problems
and I was born
before the back of the book.
What I have been saying is this:
I can lead you
only so far into wisdom.
Soon
you must begin to learn
how to be ignorant
on your own.
by John Stone
from In All This Rain