The Little Engine that Reasoned It Through

If you could shrink the whole planet
To the size of a billiard ball,
You would find the planet smoother
Than any billiard ball ever.

That's how flat our sphere really is,
Such featureless topography
There's no traction for a pool cue
When you dwindle right down to it.

And here's this peak in front of me,
Steep and scored by avalanches,
Appearing to fill the whole view,
Gorgeous, immense, and ominous.

How much is a trick of the eye?
How much my even smaller size?
How much due to flatlander views
Formed by zipping around the globe

Quickly enough to chase the night,
The way a dog chases a car
And returns home triumphantly
Having not gotten anywhere?

I'll go with being super small,
This mountain huge compared to me.
No cue from space will shoot this sphere.
What a foolish analogy.