Poem fractal

Side by side

Random

0.069 apart. A smaller distance means the lines are built more alike.

This number is read from the build of the lines. The bright edge is that number, carried outward until the pattern repeats.

The Phantom

by Thomas Hardy

−0.0827 − 1.1813i

Drawing the boundary…

Blood-Sweet

by Richard

−0.1494 − 1.1997i

Drawing the boundary…

The poems

Each poem scrolls on its own, so the two texts stay beside each other.

The Phantom

by Thomas Hardy

That was once her casement,
And the taper nigh, 
Shining from within there
Beckoned, "Here am I!"

Now, as then, I see her
Moving at the pane;
Ah; 'tis but her phantom
Borne within my brain! —

Foremost in my vision 
Everywhere goes she;
Change dissolves the landscapes,
She abides with me.

Shape so sweet and shy, Dear, 
Who can say thee nay ?
Never once do I, Dear, 
Wish thy ghost away.

Blood-Sweet

by Richard

He hung on the dark root,  
the tiger breathing under him  
like a hot, patient earth.

Two mice came—  
night-mouse, day-mouse—  
and ate the living fibre  
that held him to the world.

Then the fruit:  
a small, sudden redness  
in the leaves,  
warm, ripe,  
blood-sweet.

He put it to his mouth.  
The flesh gave.  
The juice ran into him.

And the quick of his blood  
woke,  
even as the vine thinned,  
even as the beast waited—

Life,  
naked and complete,  
in the last ripe instant  
before the fall.

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