Once I stood on the edge of a bridge,

strolled along the lakeshore,

striving to catch from afar

a glimpse of your matchless beauty.


Once I climbed atop a pavilion,

seeking a road at land’s end,

yearning for a vision

of your fair, ineffable presence.


Ten thousand yards of silk

your lightness cannot contain.

The moon hovers miles away,

its shadow broad, expansive.


The boundless sky, the neverending stream,

waves breaking without surcease.

All excite the unfathomable depth,

of which we call eternity. 


The road is long, the view obscured,

with thousands of threads entangled.

Pursuing the truth, you toil endlessly.

in dreams you’ve surely been there.


Yet inspiration has struck, time and again,

lifting us onto the shoulders of giants.

From Euclid to Descartes, Newton to Gauss,

and Riemann to Poincaré.


O! The phantom of all things,

So hard to divine in daylight’s glare.

Then suddenly, when the radiance dims,

she reveals a glimpse of her unseen form.


A chance encounter, unrivalled splendor,

from genius through the ages.

Let us celebrate the poetry of the universe

And the geometry through which it sings.


Yau Shing-tung
CAMBRIDGE, 2006