1.
It’s convenient to parcel out my life
In days and weeks because the rising and
The setting sun is easy to go by —
And if there weren’t day interspersed with night
It would be much harder to remember
What I did last week — and I am really
Grateful for my eyes to see bare branches
In a blue sky and grateful for my skin
And body so I can know what the cold
Of winter is — and also there is my
Marvelous mind that reminds me while a
Chill is rising from the snow on the ground
In several month the roses bloom again
And in summer I may wear a t-shirt.
I see the moon in
the morning and in
the afternoon too —
It’s an everyday
Presence to go by.
2.
When I understand nothing moves faster
Than light and that the light from distant stars
Traveled billions of years to reach the earth
Then I appreciate immensity
And when I understand that during the
Passage of the light the stars radiating
The light have imploded and no longer
Exist then I encounter mystery —
And when I consider that the forces
Of gravity are whirling galaxies
And everything that exists is moving
In relation to every other thing
Then I have to put my life and efforts
In context with a sobering cosmos.
I have questions
and would like
solutions but
also I love
a rising sun.
3.
The light a star generates radiates
In all directions and on earth we see
The cosmos from a limited point of
View and I believe it’s necessary
To question where we are going and to
Grasp purposes worthy of our living
Because we have the curiosity
And the wherewithal to comprehend so
Many of the facts about us and we
Know immensity and minuteness and
We understand our tininess within
The universe but no one can explain
How our molecules and electrical
Impulses create thought and emotion.
The immensity
of the cosmos is nothing
compared with the
everyday miracle of
ordinary consciousness.
4.
The iron in my body came from an
Exploding star billions of years ago
And my body is composed of atoms
And molecules and strands of DNA
That testify to an origin I
Share with every living being on Earth
And within my body there are layers
Of organization where cells behave
Independently and for the good of
The whole also so that I can sit at
My table and cut an orange into
Pieces and taste the taste of an orange
And I can speculate from this table this
Moment is moving to infinity.
There are billions
and billions of stars
in space and atoms
in my body — there is
also consciousness.
5.
Scientists uphold a prism of glass to
Separate the light into colors and
They aim spectroscopes to see the colors
Of starlight and thereby they deduce the
The age and chemical composition
Of the most distant stars and in a few
Thousand years by working together they
Have exposed the swirling cosmos and the
Inescapable fragility of
Humanity too and yet our human
Comprehension resembles a super
Nova bursting and seeding the empty
Spaces with a consciousness that will not
Be satisfied with lingering questions.
Even before the
questions could be
formulated there was
cooperation — there were
words.
