I don’t know what gives matter mass
or what’s the cause of gravity.
On quarks and leptons I must pass,
a mystery, like McCavity,
for which there is no wording, a
poetic palimpsest whose text
is like the cat of Schrödinger,
one moment dead, alive the next.
With telescopes we try to see
beyond horizons of space-time,
but from its boundaries can’t free
ourselves with fantasies in rhyme.
Although light-years do not decree
the distances that we have charted,
we’ll never reach the jubilee
with logic from which we’ve departed.
Envoi:
Space-capsule irony alone
can capture meaning that resides
behind a logic that’s a throne
which has no front or back or sides.
Derived from this Vorlage:
I don’t know what gives matter mass
or what's the cause of gravity,
on quarks and leptons I must pass,
a mystery, like McCavity,
for which there is no wording, a
poetic palimpsest whose text
is like the cat of Schrödinger,
one moment dead but live the next.
(1/19/99,5/4/07,11/9/09)
Great from start to finish! Honest and powerful, especially toward the end. Great use of language and memorable! Top marks and I'll put this one in my favorite poems! -Michael
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
i read this to my cat (whose name is schroedinger, of course) ... it may or may not have approved...