\doc\web\99\12\hawkins.txt
Gene Hawkins
COSMIC  MISCHIEF


After twenty billion years of waiting,
For a split-second in infinity,
Forty six chromosomes collided  
And exploded, for no apparent reason, 
Into100 trillion cells and one eternal soul -
Sending half a million siblings, 
(more molecules with atoms in the billions)
On a longer journey than I required
To find the gateway to existence.


Still, who can deny that making me
Or just an ordinary chimpanzee,
Was as complex an undertaking as the big bang required - 
Separated only by degree.
Small bang, big bang; same incomprehensibility.


So here I am - a conscious, thoughtful mote of matter,
Made of 36 cosmic building blocks from a cache of 99 atoms.   
Still, who am I to ask: Why 36 and not 37; why 99 and not 100?
Like a chimp, I only have sight, my senses and a trace of free will.


Meanwhile, let the big bang brew its galactic clusters;
Embracing a billion Milky Ways and a trillion stars,
Which only stellar debris with optic fibers see -
Otherwise, complete darkness. 


Sterile phenomena bereft of illumination , color, anticipation 
Of events wrought by random, yet lawful, interactions 
Between matter, energy and forces forever ignorant
Of being ruled by algebra, geometry, calculus…


Still, can all this galactic machinery dwarf A molecule 
Capable of reproducing itself  -
With a little help from THE invisible hand
(fusion, fission, meiosis, thermodynamics)
Then, bingo - another stray molecule out of thin air!


So now I ask : 
What kind of molecule are you: coming there, been there,
Or having a pipe dream in between?




Gene Hawkins