Monday, November 25, 2013
"Before Galileo"--poem by Dorothy
Before Galileo
You think you are
the center of everything.
Those planets and galaxies
their dizzy spirals
and loops,
their constant circling around
endless space—
you imagine they are a light show
constructed for your benefit—
and you are at the very midpoint,
the way earth itself was
before Galileo set us straight.
What indeed would you do
if this proved to be the case?
Would you tilt this way and that
to see if your universe went off center
with you?
Would you shrink into an atom
to see if your world would follow,
miniaturize itself?
Listen, there are a thousand billion
universes out there
and you are just a tiny speck
on one exceedingly small rounded
sphere
hurling itself out into the immensity.
You think that your moods and
intuitions guide everything
around you,
that you are the creator
of endless voyaging
and arrival—
you are the molecule
that defines all existence,
for the currents of the universe
flow constantly through you—
and they do,
they do,
and you are,
you are.
Dorothy Walters
November 21, 2013
