To Touch With the Lips (Osculate)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
In the study room at four in the afternoon,
light slants through the window onto the chalkboard.
Isaac Newton, born 1643, thought of curves that touch,
just once, sharing a tangent, like lips brushing in secret.
I draw them here, two lines bending close,
osculating at point P, marked with a red heart.
The compasses trace the circle that kisses best,
approximating the path, no more, no less.

[Chorus]
Osculate, from osculari, to kiss with the lips.
Curves that meet and part, hearts penciled in.
Romantic or geometric, the touch is the same,
a fleeting contact, in Newton's name.
Principia Mathematica, page 87, edition of 1687.
We touch, we curve, we osculate again.

[Verse 2]
Under the oak tree, 20 degrees Celsius,
the breeze carries damp earth, I sit with my notebook.
A half-eaten apple, Granny Smith from the market last Tuesday,
rests beside the ruler, tarnished brass protractor.
The diagram blooms with tiny hearts, each one a point of contact.
Faint chalk dust on my fingers, from the board inside.
You and I, like these curves, osculate in the shade.

[Bridge]
What if we were the curves, bending toward each other?
Tangents aligning in the golden light of late afternoon.
No force to pull apart, just the kiss of geometry.
Newton watching from 1727, smiling at the hearts.

[Chorus]
Osculate, from osculari, to kiss with the lips.
Curves that meet and part, hearts penciled in.
Romantic or geometric, the touch is the same,
a fleeting contact, in Newton's name.
Principia Mathematica, page 87, edition of 1687.
We touch, we curve, we osculate again.

[Outro]
The study quiets, the oak leaves rustle.
Osculate, once more, in the diagram with hearts.