A Day in the Life of Peter Petschauer

A scholar at his desk, at his computer,
In his many libraries over several continents,
Always scrupulous attention to detail –

Stays close enough to the ground
So he can discern each stalk of wheat;
Lest he soar too high and mistake
Perfect squares of wheat fields for quilts
And come to believe they really are so.

Grand theory, kept honest by his
“Yes, but…” with this fact, this old book,
This painting, there might just be
Another way of putting the pieces together,
Perhaps a different design, a new rule,
A world more nuanced than we had thought.

Hedgehogs so desperately need their foxes.*
Praise the humble fox who sniffs from place to place.
Grant him as much a place of honor as you give the hedgehog.

Imagination, said Einstein, is more important
Than knowledge. Yes, but it took Eddington’s
Experiment to confirm Einstein’s theory
That gravity could bend light.

Do not spurn the exacting scholar
Bent over his books, and abandon him
For the theorist who might have no place
For exceptions to his vision.
Praise the devoted miniaturist
Whose details lead us jaggedly
Toward elusive truth.

*Isaiah Berlin, The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953)

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