A Pretty Long Run of Good Dreams

An island universe

Of billions of stars lies

Sixty million light years

Away, which doesn’t mean

A damned thing to living

Life on Earth, but roll it

Around in your thinking

A little bit for fun,

For the terroir of it,

An island universe

Of billions of stars. Huh.

Can’t it still stagger you?

Sometime, consider minds

As miniature stars

And all humanity

An island universe

Of billions of live minds.

Or consider your words

Living our long half lives

As tunnels of meaning,

Evolving attractors

Of more meanings, burning,

An island universe

Of billions of meanings—

And then, that all life lies

Eight minutes from one star.

How lonely could it be

To be a galaxy

With its own history?

Universe of islands.