He found himself there, in that dim and windowless place
The air as thin and as hazy as the wisps of his memory remained
Shadows shifted and coalesced into rudimentary shapes
And he saw the cat. Fixing him in its penetrative, vigilant gaze.
“Hello, Erwin.”
A Chill.
He pinched himself, expecting to wake
But the room, his confusion, and a sense of misgiving remained
“Is this — am I dead?” He stammered, beginning to shake
“Perhaps,” purred the cat, in its cool and indifferent way
Dread twisted inside him, leaving him cold to the core
“What do you mean, perhaps? I have to know!” he implored
A hint of amusement played behind two lucid, smoldering orbs
“If you’d like to know,” the cat grinned, “it’s simple - open the door.”
“What… What’s out there?” Feeling panic rise in his throat
But all that reflected back at him was the cat’s disquieting gloat
“Perhaps life… Perhaps death... Perhaps it’s neither, or both.”
“I don’t see-“
“Exactly. You’re tantalizingly close.
What’s truth with no observer? What’s real, if never revealed?
Reality takes a backseat til you give perception the wheel.”
The silence stretched between them, heavy and thick as a fog
The doorway seeming to pulse with an eerie, significant aura
Erwin stood up slowly, head still swimming in thought
Then watched his trembling hand as it reached, and twisted the knob
-
Eyes snapping open, he lifted his head from the desk
Saliva left on the textbook where he’d wearily set it to rest
He tried to shake the dream off. Felt its echo nevertheless
Its meaning yet escaping him - he didn’t get it…
Unless…
…
A sudden burst of clarity. He felt the pieces clicking together
This concept a pivotal step towards altering physics forever
In his mind, the discipline’s paradigm. About to shift for the better
Putting pen to pristine paper, he rushed to scribble a letter
A thought experiment paradox. His article’s perfect opener
Quantum mechanics: a new understanding. He signed it,
Erwin Schrödinger