In the Moment

How long is now?

Artist concept image of Hawking radiation emanating from a black hole, by TM’s Public Domain Pictures

In the Moment

We are in the moment
of Genghis Khan's
last conquest

and in the moment
an asteroid struck the earth
to form the moon

and in the moment
my children
were conceived

and in the moment
I was conceived

and in the moment
I was a half-cell
in my mother's
unborn body
in her mother's womb

and in the moment
I was a glint
of a future
blueprint
to be submitted
by my father,
my true nature
unbeknownst to him

and in the moment
of life evolving
for a mere
4 billion years
from single-celled
to sentient being

and in the moment
of every technological leap,
every stroke of sheer luck
leading to eons of prosperity
in billions of galaxies

and in the moment
of every storied civilization,
no matter how many times
avoiding starvation
and overpopulation,
converting fleshy bodies
to stainless computation,
weaving minds into
the very nature of creation,
ending nonetheless
in annihilation

and in the moment
of there being
nothing
but black holes
leaking out
Hawking radiation
extremely slowly
for an unimaginably
long moment
that dwarfs
the lifespan
of anything else
in the cosmos

and in the moment
of there being
a ceasing of
meaningful change,
and everything
existing as a tepid
homogeneous soup,
an entropic debt
payable only
by heat death.

I have always been here
in this only now
I've ever known,
and when our eyes meet
we both know.
We know everything
in the moment before
the first thought forms.

---

This poem originated in the comments section of

Don Boivin

’s essay Miracle at Starbucks and was influenced by discussions with Don and

Kert Lenseigne 🌱

.