“Out of nothing I have created a strange new universe”

Imagine
a line in a plane.
Now
imagine a point not on that line.
Through this point,
Euclid said,
at most one line can exist
that is parallel to the first
One.

This is the real universe
Euclid believed
and many others
that came after him.

Bolyai dared
to be a dreamer.
And gave it his all.
He went the whole nine yards
Not once
but twice.
And on his third attempt
Collapsed
just short of a full twenty seven.

“Out of nothing I have created a strange new universe”

“Son," Bolyai warned,
"You must not attempt
this approach to parallels.
I know this way to the very end.
I have traversed this bottomless night,
which extinguished all light
and joy in my life. I entreat you,
leave the science of parallels alone”

Paying no need
Janos continued his father's dream.
And created geometries in which he
Imagined.
A line on a plane.
And a point not on that line.
Now
not only at least one existed
but an infinity of lines
could pass through
without ever meeting the first
One.

“Out of nothing I have created a strange new universe”

“Out of nothing," Bolyai wrote,
"I have created a strange new universe."
Bolyai had disposed what Euclid supposed.

Poetic justice demanded however
that Bolyai was not the only one
to have a dream of this magnitude.
Lobachevsky had reached
the same point
from a different latitude.