Our Galaxy

CLICK HERE TO HEAR AUTHOR READ

Einstein imagined it

and a hundred years later

an international team of astrophysicists 

and their instruments 

confirmed the data:

There's a black hole at the center 

of our galaxy

and now we have a photo

blurry as recollection

like a cast-iron skillet 

cooking pêches flambées.

But doesn't it just describe  

every argument we've ever had?

A mad orbit circling a force 

of gravity

no light escapes

a darkness so dark 

so vast and small

quotidian and strange

buried deep 

in a swirl of red hot stars.

 

I go to my empty corner

of the universe 

you go to yours 

in silence

measure our distance

after some time to cool

we reemerge -

once again approach 

the event horizon, 

teeter on the edge

every word 

calibrated carefully 

to hold us steady

for fear 

of falling 

into the abyss

because we know 

what's at the center 

an attraction so strong

and irresistible

a memory

so painful 

it will tear us 

apart.