Matter
You say we’re mere matter,
quarks, electrons, atoms,
subject to gravity, star dust
brushed from the tips
of a supernova,
imploding in on itself.
You say that it’s a matter
of perspective: a hundred
thousand million stars
in the galaxy, and our galaxy
but one of a hundred
thousand million others.
You say that all this matter
rushing through space,
all this chance of life
will end; that eventually
a neighbouring galaxy
will collide
with our own.
In three billion years
you say, everything
will cease to matter.
Andromeda and the Milky Way
will hit; the black holes
at their dark hearts
will feed again and merge.
The radiation wave alone
will knock us out of orbit.
Our atmosphere will evaporate
in an instant, the seas
boil off into space, you say.
Yet you won’t talk about us.
I don’t ask what’s really the matter.
Page(s) 54
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