Small and large -- poetic views . . .

     A favorite on my bookshelves is The Book of Disquiet: the Complete Edition by Fernando Pessoa*.  Here is a math-poetic item from this "diary" by Pessoa:

     In a discussion about how a village may be larger than a city 
          because you can see more of the world there  -- Pessoa quotes (on p. 241) 
               these lines from Alberto Caeiro, one of his writing personas: 

                 Because I am the size of what I see
                 And not the size of my own stature.

     These lines are from Millimeters (the observation of infinitesimal things),
          on pp. 67-69: 

          Millimeters -- their existence side by side, 
          so close together on the ruler, 
          provokes in me such an impression of wonder and daring . . . 
          I am an endlessly sensitive photographic plate.  
          In me every tiny detail is recorded and magnified 
                    to form part of a whole.

This link leads to this blog's previously posted Pessoa-mathy-quotes.

*Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet was edited by Jeronimo Pizarro, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa -- A New Directions Book.  This New Yorker article offers interesting background information about the mysterious Pessoa.