(from November 1995)
Up
Gazing up at the nothingness
splashed upon by white
spanning across the infinite black
flowing clouds of light
under unbearable pressures
in every star’s center
fusion destroys and then recreates
nature’s sole atomic inventor
the baser element consumed by fire
into a greater successor
the stellar heart’s massive greed
dead matter’s sole progressor
in seeming chaos the universe evolves
ever more grand and complex
from energy, particle, and inert gas
to self-replicating double helix
so many variables of physics
all preset (by chance?)
the slightest deviation from which
no material advance
is this impossible coincidence
or premeditated scheme
the distinction is so very moot
to how the heavens gleam
In
Looking within where nothingness
is repudiated by thought
this transphysical process we call a mind
thirteen billion years from nought
how did we wind up here
what monumental spark
animated the dust
and brought conscience to the dark
how wonderful to live
to see and hear and breathe
to do and learn and laugh and love
to question doubt believe
but how rarely we consider
this miracle of soul
toys, trinkets, beads, irrelevant things
have become our constant goal
yet on this “trivial” misfocus
hinges our continued presence
for what we strive for long enough
becomes our very essence
and for the first time since
the universal ignition
fate is shaped now less by chance
than by our own volition
Forward
Staring down into nothingness
scratched by broken streams
of municipal byproduct light
maps of human dreams
these quilted nebulas of life
congealed and distended
by far mankind’s most beautiful art
an art purely unintended
so where do we stand?
end product of evolution?
earth’s greatest advance
or foulest pollution?
under unbearable pressures
are we limited in days
as our social bonds break
as community decays
the collapse that destroys
can also create
in stars it’s a matter of mass
for us love must outweigh hate
This grand universe doesn’t need us.
We need us.
love the universe
love yourself
love each other
but mostly love each other
Fight for us. The universe already has.