The Square Root of N

"How can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?"

~~ Erwin Schrödinger, "What is Life?"

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My body is a prayer to

All the big things and small;

The soaring and the fall,

weaving between worlds,

Circling through the flaws,

yet obeying all the laws,

Until it buckles down,

A piteous, foolish prey, to the one

and only smirking demon,

Defying the light,

Lurking in the shadows,

in the plainest, boldest sight:

The square root of n.

My mind will not give up

The key to this cage

of flesh, blood and bone,

This stinking gross prison of

slime, mud and stone,

so that it can sense if this lone

particle is a quantum of God -

Or an atom of the Devil;

It's lost in the gloaming;

Forever, like a wisp of smoke

in an eternity of doubt and plain

Ignorance; or a universe of pain:

The square root of n.