Elusive Time

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.

But 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.

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 universe, world, life, and time

Are nothing but phantoms and dreams.

(7-17-14)