Wigner’s Friend

These four walls form a multiverse

A position unpredictable, tenuous,

Waiting for the light of deduction

To collapse my wave function.

I have penetrated the west wall

Entering through the east wall

Reaching for the figure in front of me

But the figure moves away

Through the west wall

Appearing behind me,

Reaching for me

But when I turn to see the eyes

The eyes have turned away.

Who could it be, cosmos-bound,

Riding quanta-wise through

the slits of distorted time,

And waxing astronomically verbose?

Who has the world on a string?

Who stops to hear the universe sing?

Come along, my observer friend,

We’ll sit and watch some galaxy end.

The Big Crunch might inspire an unction

To measure and collapse my wave function.

2024