WHAT NICODEMUS CAME TO LEARN BY NIGHT

          “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
            even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”
                    — Christ to Nicodemus, John, 3.14

Feel it, it's breathing—
Vasarely's painting of Vega.
From a flat grid of squares
he molds a smooth surface
convex at its center.

Sense the passion throes,
a sphere pulsing out
from its mother plane—
two-dimensions to three.
This is the secret Nicodemus
came to learn by night.

You could ease its birth,
play the role of midwife.
Slide behind the canvas,
whisper something transcendental—
the formula for π,
the sound of one hand,
a silent mantra,
and a real bubble
will fly out.

— Peter Y. Chou
     Palo Alto, 4-4-1990