Poetry 2015, Third Prize Garima Behal

Geometry

If thoughts had their geometry,

Would ours meet?

Like intersecting lines?

At some point

In a distant plane,

Mine abscissa, your ordinate,

And together, we

A bracket unto ourselves,

The definition of a full stop in eternity!

Or would they go parallel, still,

Even in those dimensions,

Like the asymptotes we are –

Never to meet, but to keep

Running together by each other’s side

Chasing infinity?

If thoughts had their geometry,

Would ours be confined between

Point A and point B

Like the two ends of one segment of a line?

Or would they grow exponentially,

Reaching out with wide, open arms

To embrace a forever that lasts;

And, extend, unhindered by

Distance, space, and time?

If thoughts had their geometry,

Could we build a circle out of ours?

A circle with no beginning or end,

But just an endless middle that melts

Unto its self…

If thoughts had their geometry,

Would this world be large enough?

A plane where we lay our thoughts down

Into words, characters, feelings, prayers, hopes –

Like plotting precision onto neat squares of graphs?

Or would we need a bigger area

To encompass them all?

An always up-surging curve

As thoughts tend to infinity?

If thoughts had their geometry,

Would Mathematics be richer, simpler?

Tell me, stranger, would it still

Not make sense to you?