There is nothing more beautiful and more elegant,
more perfect, poised or pure,
more delicate delightful or definitive. as a mathematical proof, so plain and austere.
As bold as youth, it starts off with the answer,
a promise of what is to be shown,
Little do people know it is a ritualistic blood-oath,
the humble mathematician must take alone.
With factorization, expansion, conjugates and calculus,
and many other clever ticks of the trade,
with discerning eyes and steeled blades of logic,
the mathematician steps tentatively, unafraid.
But soon, the sky grows ominous and menacing,
and very quickly, the whole situation becomes rather complex,
the winds howl, the torrent seas churn against tormented shores,
as if the very forces of nature has been vexed.
What is that? A fraction? I can't divide by zero;
and I can't find a way to get rid of that surd!
that matrix is not invertible. I can't simplify it any further.
I just keep going deeper and deeper into the merde. (look up French definition)
Now, the proof becomes a nightmare, a horrible demon,
an inhuman monster that bellows and shrieks of rage,
like the nine-headed hydra or the ferocious chimera,
this proof was more challenging that our hero initially gauged.
The problem compounds and oh my, it's everywhere!
the mathematician works, caffeine-addicted and deprived of slumber,
the irrationality spreads like a virus and permeates like poison,
and soon, he drowns under the flood of numbers.
And then suddenly, a gurgle, a gargle and a gulp.
As if someone had pulled the bathroom plug,
"Aha, I see now," he says with relief,
and he takes a sip from his coffee mug.
The fractions cancel away, imaginary fashions into real,
as the tides of uncertainty flush into a drain,
logic begets logic, disorder turns into order,
the unspoken eureka steps forth from the midst of coffee stains.
The grey waters wash away, leaving nothing but the truth,
crystal clear as far as the eye can see,
simple, all white, nothing less than beautiful,
And finally at last, the QED.
(quod ed demonstratum - I have shown what needs to be shown.)