Quantum States Poem by BASAB CHAUDHURI

A telephone from the hospital -
the voice on the other side is cold,
your patient is serious, come soon.

Serious! What does it mean?
The heart is beating or not?
She is still there or not?

She was struggling, swinging -
both amplitude and frequency
were on the wane as time rolled.

Sometimes she was, then wasn't.
I will not know whether she exists
until I see her,
in order to be sure, I must see her.

Existence, nonexistence, either or,
and motion, emotion all together -
quantum states for the patient
and for me.

I am on my way to the hospital -
I do not know whether she exists,
I will not know until I observe.

My feelings
swinging on,
as if they're
quantum states.