One and Done!
Math+Life #19, February 23, 2020
Sickly branches claw the way till sunset,
Dangling icicles clinking along,
Every fluttering ballerina that enters our mind,
Invoking thought,
Entices another violent trunk to grow,
Everytime we sit and think,
Our actions force themselves out,
Our actions brush past out hearts,
Our actions forget the point,
Our actions follow our thoughts,
Line after line,
Thought and action,
Again and again,
Like branches continuously growing,
Growing and layering so far,
We don’t see it anymore.
Once your action has scarred the ground,
Once your branch has died on the sand,
You wouldn’t be able to pick it back up,
You wouldn’t be able to run back in time,
Because Time remains emotionless,
He will never move,
He is the rock,
Who will stay put forever,
But cause your heart to shatter,
You are glass,
There is never any going back,
And I promise,
You will bleed.
You will bleed rivers and miles of guilt,
You will gaze back in time,
As the rock glares back at you,
You will cry till your tears become the blood,
That fill your rivers.
So I tell you,
Please move on,
Your potential is still there,
It’s still stretching and gliding ahead,
You may not be able to go back,
You may not be able to reverse the tree from growing,
Your thoughts provoking your actions,
But you can get up,
Turn around,
And continue to walk forward,
Please keep thumping away,
Listen, listen to me,
As your feet move step by step,
So will your path,
The sun will rise again tomorrow by day,
And I promise,
The rivers will wash your scars away.
Math Connect:
This poem is based on the math concept of Eulerian paths, a theory developed by the famous mathematician, Euler. A Eulerian path consists of vertices and lines, but can only use the edge of the graph exactly once. A path specifically means ending in a different vertice or destination.
I used the concept of Eulerian path to show how our thoughts (the vertices) provoke our actions (the edge). Once we perform an action, there is not coming back the same way, showing how we should find the courage to move on when we make mistakes, because in the end our path will be there for us to lead us to our destination/destiny.
