POESIS

for John D. Barrow

       That there’s a universe and we have minds
       To ponder it, intelligence that finds
       Its way into the mysteries of space
       And time and life—is an amazing grace;
       Yet how all came to be’s a mystery
       Beyond the scope of science and history.

       That does not mean we cannot speculate
       About this cosmological estate,
       Imagining the origin of all—
       A sudden burst from something very small,
       Like an idea igniting in your brain,
       Seeking a metaphor it can maintain:

            The seedling of a poem that will grow,
            Revealing what you never knew you know.

*