15 May 2005 @ 11:02, by Rupert Cathles
SPANNER TO SPIN AN ATOM
With a spanner to spin an atom,
A rocket to reach eternity, the
New millennium voyager
Stares at visions of discovery.
In antique words made long ago
Before there was any techno-science
How can anyone express the vision
Of this revealing knowledge?
The poet needs an alien tongue,
An extraterrestrial language
In which to descibe the revelation
Which far-seeing science has made.
Who can describe in any terrestrial tongue
The incomparable beauty of Orion's Nebula?
In any terrestrial tongue who can describe
The wonders of quasar and super nova?
In what words shall we capture the splendour
Of microscopic molecules, telescopic galaxies,
The strangeness of the quark, the charms of quanta?
Where can a poet find the words to tell
The scales between parsec and particle,
Billions and billionths measured,
Between vast intergalactic spaces
And microscopic nanometers?
Mathematics is the language of science
But equations do not speak to the heart.
Science is a cold objective art
But we are warm-hearted humans.
With the power to split atoms apart
And to send rockets into space,
We need the words to invoke our awe,
Science as true revelation.
Have you seen the double helix?
Have you seen a foetus in the womb?
Have you seen the rings of Jupiter?
Have you seen our Earth from space?
It is not a case of theoretical equations,
Not a matter of complex hypotheses,
Nor a question of expert opinion:
It's the passion of your human heart.
In ancient days prophets prophesied,
Creating scripture's revelation.
The revelation is now written in
A new language of divinity.
The universe is no less divine today
Though not inhabited by the ancient gods.
Life revealed by science is no less sacred
Than it was to Moses or the Buddha.
Machines have revealed new wonders,
But even machines with eyes are blind.
Only in the human heart will be discovered
The new vision revealed by science.
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