by David James Olsen
inspired by the film The Theory of Everything and dedicated to Stephen Hawking ... "who dreamt and made incarnate gaps in Time & Space through images juxtaposed." (Allen Ginsberg, "Howl")
what twists and turns create the burn that makes the heart’s intones?
what organizing force infuses courage in our bones?
what questions help us quest to truths of how we do exist?
what answers satisfy the dark allowing light, sun-kissed?
a single speck of stardust that comprised him from the start
gave Hawking humble genius-sparks endorsing his own chart
of new galactic concepts none before had dared to breach,
of how the seasons stretch in space defying standard speech.
and facing such a fatal future from an early age,
he forced himself to move his mind to think outside the cage
impounding human theories bound by knowledge found on Earth.
he broke the mold of sanctioned mass, thus causing a rebirth
inside the field of physics where professors marveled more
at how his bright endurance conquered paralyzing odds
than at his hot hypotheses that came at last to bore
through scientific lenses lacking stabilized tripods.
deteriorating muscle strength could hardly stop his flow
of fiery radiation-thoughts and populated spheres
outside our milky, wayward mindsets curbed by what we know,
of places past the brink of time, beyond our pointless fears.
determined, clear persistence reigned till, sev’nty-six, he passed,
his focus never quitting quantum gravity at all,
his wit most sharp, intact until his heartbeat played its last.
study his work for ages so his star shall never fall.
Author’s Note: This elegy is specifically structured with seven rhythmic feet per line and six stanzas so as to represent the awe-inspiring age of 76 to which Hawking lived.
David James Olsen’s iconoclastic and encrypted poetry has been published in various sources including Instigatorzine, The South Townsville micro poetry journal, and three previous times here on TheNewVerse.News. A New Yorker juggling myriad passions, he is currently most focused on intensive poetic study and writing while gracefully diving into increasing vegan activism.