[CONTEST POEM #9]

for Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack

               The Universe triumphantly made us:
               For all we know, the only ones who know
               What’s going on at large and can discuss
               The implications of this cosmic show,

               But still it seems the probability
               That other creatures with intelligence
               Have somewhere else emerged in this wide sea
               Of lustrous galaxies must be immense.

               Life and intelligence are implicate
               Within the matrix of the Cosmos’ womb,
               And thus Creation has the mother wit
               To keep its far-flung progeny from doom.

                    Yet if we are a singularity,
                    How awesome's our responsibility.

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