spacer 37
Poem of the Day | Top 30 | Poets | Shopping | Forums | Search | Comments
Today, on November 21st, 2009, the site contains 196 poets, 8,692 poems and 7,650 comments.
Wislawa Szymborska - Pi

The admirable number pi: 
three point one four one. 
All the following digits are also just a start, 
five nine two because it never ends. 
It can't be grasped, six five three five , at a glance, 
eight nine, by calculation, 
seven nine, through imagination, 
or even three two three eight in jest, or by comparison 
four six to anything 
two six four three in the world. 
The longest snake on earth ends at thirty-odd feet.
Same goes for fairy tale snakes, though they make it a little longer.
The caravan of digits that is pi
does not stop at the edge of the page,
but runs off the table and into the air,
over the wall, a leaf, a bird's nest, the clouds, straight into the sky,
through all the bloatedness and bottomlessness.
Oh how short, all but mouse-like is the comet's tail!
How frail is a ray of starlight, bending in any old space!
Meanwhile two three fifteen three hundred nineteen
my phone number your shirt size
the year nineteen hundred and seventy-three sixth floor
number of inhabitants sixty-five cents
hip measurement two fingers a charade and a code,
in which we find how blithe the trostle sings!
and please remain calm,
and heaven and earth shall pass away,
but not pi, that won't happen,
it still has an okay five,
and quite a fine eight,
and all but final seven,
prodding and prodding a plodding eternity
to last.

Added: May 22 2003 | Viewed: 1382 times | Comments (0)


Pi - Comments and Information

Poet: Wislawa Szymborska
Poem: Pi
Volume: Miracle Fair
There are no comments for this poem. Why not be the first one to post something about it?

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Pi, has not yet been commented on. You can click here to be the first to post a comment about it. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Wislawa Szymborska with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info

Szymborska Info
Copyright © 2003-2009 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
Alternative Health Review | Buffalo Bills | Accounting Software Directory | Show Me New Orleans