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The Equivalence Relation (1572-1631; 1596-1650)

"Nobody loves you but your mama,
and she might be jiving too";
B.B. King

I. Background and Statement of Purpose.

What's done is done, of course.
But were I God, remorse
is what I'd feel: that I
give no choice but to die.

What could he not have done
if, banned from using son
and sun, he had to turn
to what he could have learned

from just a few back then,
living as he did when
linear equations
had no strict notation ?

Or the "equivalence
relation". What intense
and cogitative joy
would have been his - to toy

with that one in a piece
until he found release,
escape from all the heat
it takes to cook conceits.

Like Bach, who put petite
deaths into all the suites
in which his fugues portray
the amorous at play.

II. Definition.

First, transitivity.
To wit: if A likes B,
and B thinks C is swell,
then A likes C as well.

Next, symmetricity.
What electricity,
when J is loved by K
and K is loved by J!

Last, reflexivity.
The sad proclivity
of all those who let be,
content with 'I love me'.

III. Explication by Example.

Put out the light and then
put out the light. But when
these two were said and done,
they both summed up to one.

Thus poets know equivalence,
and math too, in this sense:
Unable to pursue it,
they can still intuit.

Prosodic Notes:

In section I:

1) In S1L4, "no" takes the downbeat.
2) In S2L1, "not" takes the downbeat.
3) In S3L4, "had" takes the downbeat.
4) In S4L4, "have" takes the downbeat.