EVERY morning is a miracle
Deep inside the morning sun
hydrogen is being fused into helium
at temperatures of millions
of degrees

X rays and gamma rays
of incredible violence
are pouring out of the core
into the surrounding layers
of the sun

If the sun were transparent
rays would blast their way
to the surface in a few searing seconds

Instead, they begin to bounce
from tightly packed atom to atom
of solar “insulation,”
gradually losing energy

Days, weeks, centuries, pass
Thousands of years later
that once deadly radiation
finally emerges from the sun’s surface
as a gentle shower of yellow light —
no longer a menace
but just right for bathing earth
with its warmth

EVERY night is a miracle too
Other suns twinkle at us
across of our galaxy's vast expanse

They are a riot of colors, densities,
temperatures, and sizes.

Some are supergiants

So large that if one were centered
in the position of our sun
what remained of our planet
would be inside the surface of that superstar

Other suns are tiny, white dwarfs —
smaller than our earth
yet as heavy as our sun
Some will peacefully drone
along for billions of years;
Others are poised on the brink
of supernova explosions
that will obliterate them
briefly outshining entire galaxies

Who is worthy to receive
the glory, the honor, the power?
Who should be praised
we came into existence
and we're created?
Who sustains the solar system?
Who kept its deadly power checked
so everybody in this ball of dirt
will live?

Primitive peoples spoke of monsters of sea
and battling gods, of dragons and turtles
and elephants, of dreaming gods
and of lotus flowers

Later, during the so-called Age of Reason
the gods were swept aside
by the newfound “magic” of calculus
and laws discovered by Newton

Now we live in an age bereft
of the old poetry and legend
The children of today’s atomic age
have chosen as their paradigm for creation
not the ancient sea monster
not Newton’s “machine,”
but that overarching symbol
of the 20th century — the bomb.
Their “creator”?
An explosion, cosmic fireball—
the random mindless Big Bang.


#EnigmaticUniverse
© Versifiable