Luminiferous Aether

Trick question. The punchline’s
More than a century
Old—there is no aether.

Sound waves may fly through air,
Sea waves through salt water,
Light’s attached to nothing.

Gravity gets involved,
And spacetime curvature,
And maybe string theory,

Eventually—for now,
Let’s just stay with the light.
Light’s attached to nothing,

Such a lovely constant,
Electromagnetic
Fields moving on themselves,

Massless little winks at rest,
Nothing much, devotedly,
Wholly attached to nothing.