Legacy

At first,
the equations pattern the page opaquely.
Slowly they form into meaning
and a wordless world opens before
where theorems mark a well-known way
to outcrops smooth with understanding.

One day,
cold with no sleep or in an ecstasy
of invention, I'll reach a wild
vast hinterland no mind has ever
thought of or dreamt about.
Surveying this territory,
I'll bring back it's map.

It won't look much,
just a small equation
in the margin of a textbook.
Beside it I'll scribble:
"It can't be solved."

As my eyes finally close,
I'll dream of men lost
in that hinterland, happy at last .