by S. Andrewartha
mythos, kosmeo, planetes, helios
when myth was word
the word was final
everything was story
stones were gods
then gods were turned to stone
to keep track of time and heading
they wandered around
our noble sphere
circles within circles
fifteen hundred years
from circular into elliptical planes
heresy and translation
and the whole world spun
humbled by Helios
special it be
time-god universal
at constant speed
flexible and personal
standing on Newton’s shoulders
ruling how to bend and move
a dimple attracted
towards its sinkhole
light shed on the madness
of Mercury
for scales not simple nor small
freed
from cosmopolitan constraints
expansion and explosion
an origin suggested
departing from eternity
but into what and for how long
enhanced senses
our sun-god demoted
within a lacklustre lactic cluster
stoic observation reveals
a patient pulse from far beyond
neighbouring nebula
spied and split
elemental points of light
red-shifted thus receding still
and the farthest fastest so
elastic stretch rewound
the master yields
appropriate abundance
to an intense point are bound
cooling soup congeals
atomic snowballs fusing
yet not the age nor yet the weight
that ought to be
primed such steady debate
ready refinements and recalibrate
distances double as ages dilate
stars are dying in stages
in waves
ejecting the elements of life
hurling and catching
stardust or nuclear waste
brighter than the brightest star
young galaxies are spied afar
seeing back in time
to light that fled
from whence light could first flee
tiny imperfections seeding
clumps of matter whirling; forming
fifteen billion years within
a vast and otherwise empty void
