It takes a YEAR for planet Earth
To revolve around the sun;
It takes Neptune eighty-four Earth years
To complete a single run.
 
So if I’d been born on the planet Neptune,
I say as I’m sighing,
BEFORE I even turned ONE year old,
I’d have a good chance of dying.
 
(Yes, I know that I couldn’t LIVE
On Neptune; nevertheless,
I’m using the example to make my point.
Forgive me: I digress.)
 
Our solar system orbits the center
Of our GALAXY, the MILKY WAY.
I’m sure there’s a method of calculating
The length of a cosmic day.
 
If it takes over 200 MILLION YEARS
To revolve, then it’s very clear
That our solar system has
A very long COSMIC YEAR.
 
In fact, the last time our solar system
Was where it is right now,
Dinosaurs were walking on Earth.
If that’s not amazing, and how!
 
Clusters of galaxies also spin—
Wow! This is getting too BIG.
To figure out how much time that takes,
I need to know physics and trig.
 
Grasping the vastness of the universe
Is hard. What we must do
Is understand that time is relative
And depends on our point of view.
 
My hair—once brown—has now turned gray;
My gait is slower. It seems
The world, universe, life, and time
Are nothing but phantoms and dreams.

- by Bob B