poem

 Infinite Peril

Never forget the inherent danger

Fibrillating at the heart of infinity

In an infinite amount of time anything 

Is not only possible but inevitable.

Us here, me and you, it isn’t special

It was always going to happen

We just didn't know when. 

Think for how long we’d been

Patiently waiting on deck

Bats on our shoulders

Wondering if we’d ever get to hit. 

Infinity explains the existence 

And the meaning for everything

In due course.

And also the absence of meaning 

In a world that doesn’t yet exist

But will.

Infinity will snatch your joy 

And spit on your wonder.

Who do you think you are

Other than what you’ve always been?

Infinity is the golden goose wryly 

Grinning as we clutch at its hatched 

Little eggs of time, which are

Quickly traded in for material trinkets

Of immeasurably lesser value. 

Somewhere along the infinite timeline

You’ll become the sort of person 

Who learns the lesson

Of the pricelessness of time

Just before a voice whispers:  it’s too late,

By the time you get it, you’ve missed the point.  

So you get dizzy with acquired time,

Lose your balance, fall face down. 

Laugh at your peril. 

The only way to save this

From utter trivialization

Is to join a doomsday cult.

Become a man on a sidewalk 

Wearing a placard proclaiming

THE END IS NEAR 

Not as a warning

But hope.

6/9/24