A blue sky in the darkness of space

A world that is process and paradox
         the flimsy atomic structures
that bind all things and all people
         together and in which nothing
in its place is bad and nothing
         out of its place is good

A constantly evolving universe
         of fixed particles and elements
the fluidities of time
         and energy and mass
in this shape-shifting creation
         in which expansion tugs
at concentricity and coherence
         the energy that raises the rose
from the soil so that its petals
         may openly embrace its destiny
which is a recurring death :
         beauty that comes not once
but for all time in unique
         but seemingly endless repetitions

And so the gift of tongues
         the gift of poetry that sees
the solid and beautiful forms
         of the future in bright vistas
of revelation in the moving lips
         of our humanity—a universe
capable of transcending
         its own boundaries
a life that interrogates
         its own origins and questions
its apparent transitions
         amid the transience
of the immortalities
         of hydrogen carbon and oxygen
love incarnate
         and the sacredness
of all that is demonstrable
         natural life with its rivers
and lakes and oceans
         the cat owl and the fish-hawk
the eagle and the night heron
         all in the full thrift of time

John Lyons