Astrobiography
I have this friend in science
who tells me how he learned
astrophysics. It goes something
like this: You first lean so closely into
the source of things that
distant stars, whole galaxies,
collapse as if into the eye
of a great storm called God.
And what is important then
is how long you can hold your own
eye open to the center of mystery—
which is your lens—
as if you’d just discovered
some incomprehensible
petroglyph in a dark cave
somewhere under France maybe
only you have no light
but your own imagination
and the ocean called language.
Then as if the universe itself
were lethal oxygen,
you breathe wonder in
slowly
at the speed of lightheadedness.
—Ed Higgins, from Near Truth Only
This poem is offered as part of our Tweetspeak annual theme: Awe & Wonder.
“Astrobiography” is taken from Near Truth Only. Copyright © 2023 by Ed Higgins. Used by permission of Fernwood Press. All rights reserved. www.fernwoodpress.com. Photo by NASA, via Unsplash.
"you have no light
but your own imagination
and the ocean called language."
"the center of mystery—
which is your lens"