It Began With The Big Bang Poem by Michael Bailey

It began with the Big Bang,
scientists tell us;
A massive explosion
that sent cosmic matter streaming
across a vast unknown
where it coalesced and circled
into solar systems and galaxies
that still move outward, ever outward
toward…what?

The image is too large
to be held in one mind,
yet, we cannot help
but imagine a gallery
of stars warming circles of solar systems
where life rises and falls and rises again
in one imperceptible crawl
toward…what?

I cradle my new-born daughter,
imagining her life
crawling, walking, running,
her eyes glistening with the sight
of more and more
her world growing larger and larger
encompassing heartbreak and joy
pain and celebration,
her orbit growing wider and wider
as it moves
toward…what?

It could be that the universe is infinite
and there will be no end
to the expansion of celestial debris.
But,
what if the stars and planets
carry within their fiery hearts
a dim reminder of their genesis,
a jagged photo of wholeness,
embossed upon memory,
that causes them to remember
the center where the one true name was
once held in tight embrace,
so that instead of moving outward
they will,
as will my daughter one day,
turn and circle back, back
toward…home.