Jeffrey Musyt



Sometimes I still catch that familiar salt scent,
feel the lift and fall  of our trireme harmonics.
On that day I bent my mind trying to
square a circle, but no attempts could equal
their areas. So my gaze fell on Hippasus.

First he chalked the path of his straight
edge. Through compassed curves
he drew a second line, perpendicular
& congruent. How could he know his lifeline
would become entwined with that hypotenuse?

He plotted on, brow focused ‘til
at last the imaginative a-ha.
His hand, far-behind, raced after his brilliance,
scribbling arguments and conclusions.
The culmination, Q.E.D., “Eureka!”

Logic bound, I scrutinized his proof.
The rational assumption, A is even then B is odd,
gave way to squaring both sides. The flawless result…
an even B, a frightening contradiction,
reasoned irrationality.

He shattered the world, Pythagoras’ disproved
philosophy left ratios incomplete.
A major heresy, he corrupted our
Theorem and produced an
unholy number.

This radical idea had to be silenced, and
by our cheers it was, the heretic landing
in the sea. Yet, as Hippasus sank beneath
the waves, I saw him smile, having now twice
encountered pure irrationality.