“99.999 Survive” –newspaper headline
She told me that her poetry,
Leaving behind science, brought her infamy,
But such things were not unknown to me.
For instance, Edgar Allan Poe
Believed in a creator, but strove to know,
As a scientist, how the creator created,
Reconciling science and religion. We debated
Only for a little while. Then she and I fell
In love. We avoided jealousy and conflict pretty well.
She told me poetry covered her as in a hood—
All her senses were poetic. She understood
The laws of the universe were necessary, but not particularly good.
She said she had a disease. I kept my distance.
She, the god of soft stealth,
Told me much. I sighed. I asked her, Please,
Tell me, then, how did you get the disease?
I gave it to myself.