The Mother Cosmos

Read this poem by Joe Massingham with care. And remember that the dark spaces of the universe hold great mysteries, that the dark is also deep--and can be its own kind of sacred shelter.

World within World

--Joe Massingham

In the beginning all energy and matter,

the universe entire, compressed into

the smallest ball, held within a black hole

 ’til, on the instant, it exploded and all

was on its way to being the world today.

At first the theorists held that

it would just expand forever.

Now we know that isn’t so, it’s

 slowing down and some time hence

will stop and be at rest, all dark.

My Mum’s a bit like that. An almost perfect sphere

of no great diameter, who,

from the beginning, filled all our lives,

drove us to know more, live broader lives,

fill all our space, use all our time.

When I was young I thought it would be thus forever.

Now I know differently. The energy is spent,

the light is flickering low and

 she is slowing down. Some time soon

she’ll stop and be at rest, all dark.

Joe Massingham was born in the UK, but has lived the second half of his life in Australia. His primary employment has been as a Navy officer, combined with an academic career that led to his earning a PhD and becoming a tutor, lecturer and Master of Wright College, University of New England, NSW. 

Joe has operated his own writing and editing business, but retired early because of cancer and heart problems and now spends time waiting to see medical practitioners, writing poetry and prose, and smelling the roses. His work has been published in Australia, the UK, Eire, USA and New Zealand.