looking up at the heavens
ancients saw bears, hunters, *****
shapes of exotics in all kinds
today's wonders are galaxies
black holes, echoes of 'big bang'
the patterning of the universe
and magnificence closer to home
the complexity of life, its variety
DNA, the internal logic of being
fibonacci to chaos to fractals
matter's quantum existence
searching out the patterns
the very stuff of the cosmos
purpose and meaning if any

but who gets to decide
some say survival of the fittest
the strong, the brightest, the best
adaptation and evolution forever
sustaining species across the eons
or chasing an environment receding
planetary, universal inconstancy
shaping shadows of apocalypse
planting, nurturing the seeds
of our own inexorable extinction
who gets to decide

yet may the pattern differ
something bigger, more complex
birth, death, evolution, extinction
the rise and fall of species
star systems and galaxies
entropy playing enthalpy
catastrophe versus creation
annihilation or ex-nihlo spark
dancing to a different tune
omega transmutes to alpha
death becomes resurrection
daily little deaths or the last
beauty of the broken salvaged
love's creative urge driving
a birth, nascent recasting
shaping old patterning anew


2nd May 2025