BOYS, KALEIDOSCOPES AND BIKES
Einstein, the boy, on his bike
one day marveled at the rays
of the sun. If he could ride
on one of those beams
of light, he imagined, it would
change his relationship
to space and time. While on
my back on the grass
in a Nashville park
the other day, the view
above me had me feel
like a boy again, the one
that loved looking
through kaleidoscopes.
With an open focus I saw
patterns, textures, and colors
above, moving through
and across one other.
I saw shapes and densities
evolve into and out of
each other. All of a sudden
the idea of entering
the quantum, which I had
been thinking a lot about lately,
felt like a possibility
and a relativity I could
actually create, in my own mind,
like a boy on a bike might,
on a whim, decide
to travel at the speed of light.