I have long sailed the endless river
of time from its dawn, to its dusk and saw
the bright blinding filaments and walls
of the intricately intertwined web
encompassing all.
Flowing through the scorching
plasmatic essence of its beginnings
I have seen the birth of light
photons free themselves to shine
leaving fascinating trails behind,
the dance of particles form elements
alacritous combination engendering
hydrogen atoms swirling to bond,
through invisible attractive forces
of gravity playing games, creating matter
in spheres, heat and density they burn,
to produce new substances scattered
throughout unfolding space.
Stars harbouring all the embryos, kernels
of life to be, I saw them twirl and spin
Gods of the universe go supernova
gamma rays thrust golden nuggets gleaming
revealing discoveries unforeseen.
I tiptoed into Laniakea a few minutes
after midnight in reverence and awe,
for the sparkle of an immeasurable
immense heaven enclosing hundred
thousand galaxies stretching over five
hundred twenty million light years,
magnetically swerving in the direction
of a peculiar spiral one,
a milky swath of lights, where I found
to my dismay, multifarious creatures
inhabiting a terrestrial planet in a system
on the Orion’s spur of its Sagittarius Arm.
I moored to indulge
in gazing take a closer look at shapes
and colours organic omnificence I stumbled
upon a unique chucklesome species
capable of thoughts,
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I halted
my journey for a lifetime,
witnessed them blossom, grow, wilt and fade,
incomparable to any other I remarked,
‘No being with the exception of man
feels surprised at its own existence’
when I left they had gone.
[Featured painting: Epiphany In Light by Lucy West]