THE
LAPLACIAN
The
Laplacian is a group of mathematical
terms which in one form
expresses the
tendency in nature for departures from
uniformity to
be minimal.
Out
of the Laplacian the mandrill comes.
Out
of the properties of the solid world
(this
tendency a thread in every law—
that
departures from the mean be minimal)
appears
the ape, red muzzle and fangs.
In
a world of green wedges and bark,
tendrils
and rock-face and the pool of water,
are
the tufts on the face and the small eyes,
the
blue mask on the face, and the beard,
and
the brain pan, an aberration.
Out
of the jungle comes the scream of the beast
in
labour; into the cuts of the crude air,
expulsion.
An animal beating its breast:
in
time egregiously it rails;
nor
shall Niobe stray from the mean.
Low
mutters incessantly in the mouth
and
the clenched fist beating time.
Poised
in a basket of green boughs and creeper,
the
mandrill sits between the small and large
calculating
extraordinary advance.
