Euclid, Definitions I-IV

By John Pelech

A poem on Euclid’s first four definitions

The frontispiece of Sir Henry Billingsley’s first English version of Euclid’s Elements, 1570

i am following corpses in deepest rot
most precise of parts the point here play
dots arrange and form a first order
those skinny bones are length unornamented
from a deathly thinness a most narrowness
fat-less sides constrict the erosive war
only this constellations ends decay
seen this in one bone no deviation
what is straight is scientific subject