Vis Viva

Vis Viva is a term coined in the early 1600's considered to be the frontrunner for the word energy Vis (Latin, force/power) Viva (Latin, to live) I came across this when researching & a poem happened

Vis Viva

 

These days

I see more sunrises than sets

It’s not a conscious thing

It just happens to be

 

I must remind myself

That it is me

turning to see it

and not the sun coming to me

it is easy

to imagine differently

when left

to our own device

 

But we are the sum

of the suns glances

and through this

we have gathered

it is we who spin & revolve

and not by our resolve

 

Some fellow once figured out

that the act of observation

changes the behavior

of particles and waves

the miniscule act

of viewing something

somehow it interacts

with how light behaves

 

like the minute channeling

of energy

in the synapse of my

motor cortex

that typed this page

you just turned

and glanced for your survey

 

I wonder if this is the natural course

to look to sunrises

as we get closer to the sets

and we will no longer

be able to articulate matters

 

When I was younger

I looked more to the sun sets

the excitement of the unknown

hidden within the obscuration of twilight

was a scintillating sight

 

I have to remind myself

I never created the energy

that sparked the feelings

that tickled my imagination

because another fellow

once figured out

that all energy is borrowed

it never really goes away

it just

changes forms

 

and like the kiss

of those last streaks of light

that glance the sky

and imbues my gaze

informing my perception

 

I must remind myself

That yet another group of fellows

figured out

That information never dies

It just hangs in the subspace

waiting to be retrieved

reassembled or perhaps rearranged

 

The longer I live

the more I realize

that we are just conduits

of energy and information

for a brief period

we may manipulate these things

and perhaps change their forms

in creativity or imagination

at the view of a sunset

but it also makes me wonder

is the sun any less alive than we

 

One day I will see my final sunset

And one day the sun too will burn away

There is a comfort to know

that long after our final beams

that energy and information

will not go away

it will just change forms

I came across this term when I was researching physics the term sparked my imagination and thus this poem. I have been working on this one for quite a while I have a lot of friends and family that have been going through a lot lately and mortality has been in the forefront of my mind this is what came out:)

 

 

Author's Note

for further reading...
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Conservation_of_energy
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Information_theory
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Observer_effect_(physics)

Reviews

[Pryde Foltz]

Loved this existential science write. We are all energy and feeling ... with thoughts and senses doing a rather complete job of interpreting it all. I say this video that mimicked how bees see humans, points of light flocking together like a murmuration. Sucks to be a bee with all that hard work and subservience to a Queen. But you do get hang out in flowers and see things closer to how they are. Fantastic write, Robert.

[Robert Trakofler]

I can’t tell you how glad I am that you saw this poem:) as I have told you before I consider you to have one of the most formidable minds I have ever come across on these pages and your understanding of science and the melding of it in poetry has always been so inspiring:) your enjoyment of this makes me feel very grateful! I have some more work to do to publish it with a video and my spoken word but I always put it on this site first to get feedback

[Pryde Foltz]

Wow ... did you ever make my morning. I don't now whether to blush or strut around like a peacock. Thank you so much, Robert:)