A Sunset Bloom

Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed How the oceans that cover the world were perturbed By the tides from the orbiting moon overhead "How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said. I began to expound upon tidal effects When you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed So I did not explain why the sunset turns red And we watched the occurrence in silence instead.

 Ode to Spot

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature, An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature. Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses. I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations, A singular development of cat communications That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection. A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents. You would not be so agile if you lacked...

 Unweaving the Rainbow Makes it More Beautiful

Newton's unweaving of the rainbow led on to spectroscopy, which has proved the key to much of what we know today about the cosmos. And the heart of any poet worthy of the title Romantic could not fail to leap up if he beheld the universe of Einstein, Hubble and Hawking. We read its nature through Fraunhofer lines - 'Barcodes in the Stars' - and their shifts along the spectrum. The image of barcodes carries us on to the very different, but equally intriguing, realms of sound ('Barcodes on the ...

 Cosmic Gall

Neutrinos, they are very small. They have no charge and have no mass And do not interact at all. The earth is just a silly ball To them, through which they simply pass. Like dustmaids down a drafty hall Or photons through a sheet of glass. They snub the most exquisite gas, Ignore the most substantial wall, Cold shoulder steel and sounding brass. Insult the stallion in his stall, And, scorning barriers of class. Infiltrate you and me. Like tall And painless guillotines, they fall ...

 The Kiss Precise

Four circles to the kissing come, The smaller are the benter. The bend is just the inverse of The distance from the centre. Though their intrigue left Euclid dumb There's now no need for rule of thumb. Since zero bend's a dead straight line And concave bends have minus sign, The sum of squares of all four bends Is half the square of their sum.

 Microscopes are Prudent

Faith is a fine invention For gentlemen who see; But microscopes are prudent In an emergency.

 The Universe has No Obligation

A man said to the universe: 'Sir, I exist:' 'However,' replied the universe, 'The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.'

 The New Sinai

And as of old from Sinai's top God said that God is one. By Science strict so speaks he now To tell us there is None. Earth goes by chemic forces; Heaven's A Mecanique Celeste. And heart and mind of human kind A watch-work as the rest.

 Twinkle, twinkle little star

Twinkle, twinkle little star. I don't wonder what you are, For by spectroscopic ken I know that you are hydrogen.

 For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.