Peter Petschauer: The One-Man Surveying Team (festschrift poem)

It would seem so
Simple and direct:
To determine the location
Of a point in space:
Just use your finger
And point right there.
That’s where it is.
No, not so simple,
Though it might
Seem to be.
Only a three-
Dimensional view
Will suffice.

You’ll need to take
All your surveying
Instruments to several
Places around a circle
And point toward where
You think it is the same
Point, except it isn’t.
You take your readings
From three or four views,
Record them; the place
They all meet is
The elusive point you
Are looking for.

Only once you have
The method and have
Done all the work
Have you earned the right
To define what and where

The real point is.
Without a range of perspectives,
There can exist no trustworthy point—
Not too different
From life.

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