Cosmological Affections
Poem - by Richard Schiffman
Above the earth, the sky;
above the sky, space; and above space,
there must be something.
The cosmologists are working on it.
The sky is always sliding over the skin
of the earth. Although, arguably,
the earth is slipping under the lid of the sky.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
From the perspective of outer space,
the sky looks like a thin wash
of indigo eyeshadow
limning the eyeball earth. The earth,
for its part, is always gazing blankly into space.
You’d think the planet would get bored
after all those billions of years of staring
at the same moon, sun and stars.
But apparently not. If you ask me, the earth
is in love with the sky. When you are in love,
you don’t get bored, not in a billion years.
And my guess is that the sky is in love
with the earth, as an eyelid loves the eye it guards.
As for the sun, it can’t get its paws off
all of those sexy planets. And even the boundlessness
of space must be in love with something.
The cosmologists are working on it…