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Scale continues to haunt the waves,
Haunt all phenomena. Words can’t
Keep from slipping on scaly ice,

And if the names known as numbers
Seem nimbler, zipping back and forth
From femtoseconds to eons,

Light years back to micrometers
And forever more, it would seem,
As well as infinitely less,

They’re helpless and homeless, riding
The vast tsunami’s steely rails,
Roller coasters of frozen ropes,

That crack and break apart again
At every peak of symmetry.
Anywhere that seems like a pause,

There’s something breaking and falling,
An icicle, a literal
Heart, an ancient country, a star,

Galaxies tearing each other apart,
A spider dying on baseboards,
Sunlight shifting over old snow,

An ocean of slush and darkness,
The whole cosmos, billions of ships
Burning into its inky waves.