Cantata of Wonder
I. Cosmos — Adagio maestoso
What was it Einstein mused…
when he spoke in a kind of mathematical show ’n tell?
“If I rode on a beam of light…
through the deep dark reach of space…
what would I see?
what would I be?
would I be anyplace?”
Then he chuckled,
stuck out his tongue,
made his eyes go wide —
“I’d be everywhere at once…
bent toward the infinite…
really deep inside.”
Beauty echoes…
through all things.
Like Nature’s laughter
inside a flower.
And a communion…
of the Eternal Present exists.
As if no past ever compelled.
As if no future beckoned.
Yes…
deep calls to deep.
II. Mind — Fuga scherzando
The relative dance…
is to the frequencies of scale.
Planet to Planet.
Star to Star.
Galaxies and dark matter
revolving in the slipperiness
of deep and dark space.
Keeping pace…
to their own law…
of falling into each other
in time and space —
matter into matter.
I’d imagine dear Wittgenstein…
with a black hole in his head.
Bending the light
with his insight.
Gödel, Escher ’n Bach —
playing with the infinite-in.
Where all that’s left of the Cheshire cat
is the grin.
Canons and fugues
with Shepard scales.
The white whale…
of Information Theory.
The Eternal Golden Braid —
in quantum tessellations made.
It’s Higgy dust.
Where from nothing…
to everything you see,
a quantum fluctuation
made you… and me.
III. Love — Cantabile con tenerezza
Ontology…
as path-dependence.
Poetry… writing…
is an act of actualizing self.
Individuating with each write…
that flows out of the lowest
we did fall and crawl,
to the highest
we dared dream —
inside the eyes…
of a lover’s gleam.
This ’lektrick muse let loose.
Plugged into the warmth in your chest.
Or the chill in your bone.
To become words that tinker
in the antics-of-semantics.
And linger in the poetics-of-noetics.
Rhythm’d in time.
Words that smash and blush.
Flash and hush.
Dash and duck.
In the neuro-linguistics of your mind.
IV. Prayer — Lamentoso e misterioso
Sometimes the poem is a prayer.
Sometimes the prayer — the plaint —
is a diminutive echo…
of our deep
calling for deep.
Our slippery-sloped
separation anxiety.
Sometimes…
feeling this is all I can do.
And this — this…
is a catabasis romance.
And yet… a duality dirge too.
An elegy of woe.
And a place of exceptional Peace —
where the quantum frequencies of bliss
are released.
V. Wonder — Andante luminoso
In the phenomenology of Love,
coupled with the visceral reality
of joyousness —
that frissons up the spine…
What remains…
is our own courage to change the world
from the inside out.
Withoutta’ doubt.
That lost art…
of interior design.
It starts with wonder.
Imbued in awe.
Unbound by the language of reason.
Nor by the fatal skin we’re in.
Uncluttered by the pitter-patter of patterns,
promulgated by bad education.
Nor spoilt by the cliché…
of tribal mediocrity.
VI. Coda: Illumination — Finale con fuoco
From stars we come
to stars we shall return,
this ancient ache of longing
that’s urging us to burn.
To shine on and on
from inside out,
where illumination is a fire
without any doubt.
Copyright © Jerry Whalley | Year Posted 2025
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment