POETRY | TIME | PROMPT | ASTRONOMY

A Timeless Trip

A celestial poem

I dreamed of being a sunbeam and time, everywhere, dilated past, present, future became one my celestial heart was elated

Clocks both froze and started running wild I saw the Source and the Final Destination I was everywhen and everywhere at once from the End up to the moment of Creation

I passed through stars, nebulae and galaxies felt lighter than the white feather of Ma’at I leaped through voids and galactic clusters with the Field of Reeds caressing my back

I was merely a massless photon one among zillions in the Universe yet I knew everything there was to know I should record everything in verse

I realized I could not stop though photons do not come with breaks I kept traveling at the speed of light till I met something nothing escapes

A black hole trapped me in its gravity well the great devourer was hungry for gas, dust, mass and energy up close it seemed almost angry

My curiosity made me approach too close I’d soon go past the point of no return fall into the black heart of the beast I would never see the light again

I tried to escape but it was futile its gravitational attraction was fierce Goliath was going to win this fight no slingshot could save me from this

I fell through the hungry beast’s event horizon so I was disconnected from this universe if I had mass I would have been crushed I felt nothing, not sure that was for the best

I kept falling, falling, and falling I might have fallen for eons or a second time loses all meaning inside a black hole I was a timeless photon too, for the record

But I was not meant to spend eternity forever trapped in a pitch-black heart as I approached the core I saw light dazzling light, seemed like a work of art

The core turned out to be a white hole a gateway to another, parallel universe certain astronomers were right black holes are doors to the multiverse

I rushed to exit with my fellow photons with my curiosity now red-lined at long last I escaped the beast left it and our universe behind

I wondered what I’d discover there perhaps it had different physical laws maybe it was filled to the brim with life I hoped it was not as sterile as a lab coat

But right when I reached the first planet I woke up, feeling as light as a sunbeam I was back in the realm of temporal cages my alarm went off and broke my dream

I had a deadline to fulfill and the window was tight I started writing, still star-headed wishing I was timeless light

Inspired and motivated by Sheri Jacobs’ latest writing prompt about time, and the notion that it is a human construct:

Apart from exploring time, time dilation etc I wanted to entertain the hypothesis that black holes might be gateways to parallel universes. Let me know in the comments what you think. Thanks for reading. 🙏🏽

Another celestial poem of mine: