Pythagoras

I
Begin by counting pebbles
then scratch the eyes
on dice and throw
for all youre worth.
Boundary stone by boundary stone
knowledge grows until triangle
builds right angle and gnomon
constructs square and square
becomes the base of pyramid
that rises, in imagination,
to a point that defines a cube
from whose eight shoulders
meridians hang to shape
a sphere men can spin.
Start with simple things:
the square on the hypotenuse
of a triangle equals the squares
on the two right-angled sides
but the square on the diagonal
of a square is incommensurable
to that from which it springs.
At the start harmony
breeds dissonance.
Even numbers cannot equal odd.
I pluck my monochord
hang my hammers like bells
to tell the intervals.
Fire has a limit. Darkness
is boundless. The stars
are incandescent bubbles
drowning angels blow
into nights overwhelming sea.
The fourth, the fifth and the octave
mark my sky ring by measured ring.

I write nothing for men

to misinterpret; they love me
for the words I speak to them.
Orpheus sings for me.
I listen through these ears
until his voice and mine are one.

II
What octave does a siren choose
To steal what none should lose?
When soul leaves body it will flee
To any animal about to be.
Crawl through mud, swallow sea;
Til soul returns to body there is no me.
The trip I take will never be complete.
The fruit that falls is not the fruit I eat.
By virtue of the limits I transcend
Fresh fields open to measurements of men.

III
A whipped whelp howls
with the voice of a long lost lover.
Multiple selves in several places:
Metapontum, Croton, Olympia:
golden-thighed before the crowd,
God speaks to me as I swim
in his river in Egypt
I saw flocks of souls take flight.
My soul is like the seed
a pharaohs body becomes

when planted in his tomb

for the everlasting pleasure
of the crowds who love him
and the bandits who will come.
Apollo is my Zeus.
Silence is better than words.
Incisor overpowers fang.
I illuminate no mirror.
Whatever drops, I let lie.
I caress no plume; shelter
no starling; pluck no flower.
I cut no loaf; bite no bread;
gnaw no hearts.
I eat only what makes me
most myself. I walk
no highway; accept no
shortcut; leap no barrier;
plunge no iron in the fire;
leave no footprint in the ash.
When I rise from where I rest,
I erase the shadow self
I leave behind.