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Dr Hester's Instruction

She was famous for her mathematics
her hand-painted shirts and her
high laughter. When, like a satellite,
her chalk searched the blackboard space,
the students gazed, silent. It was as if
a re-entry was taking place.

A crew of astronauts, so delicate,
would be slowly tracing the asymptote,
approaching the discontinuity,
the point where they could either
lose everything
or shine.

She never felt lost. For her, the chalk
was only an outward expression. The code,
the love song and not the love.
And love, she said, is warm light.
Place it left of the equals sign,
a balance for infinity