China Dolls

When the darkness closes in among us, upon us,

and it falls, and it breaks like dawn.

When the fog settles down among us, upon us,

will we fall like rain? Break like china dolls?

Well, I don't have the answers.

Socrates and I relate much more closely.

And I can tell you that the earth spins on an axis

in an elliptical orbit around the sun.

But I can't tell you why.

Why is it that the stars are all yellow and white?

And how do we know that no two snowflakes are alike?

Who can be sure there's no pot of gold across that coloured bridge?

And who made the medal that the runner wears when he wins?

Well, I don't have the answers.

And I can't tell you why.

But I can lay here beside you in the grass

and watch the clouds.

And tell you many made up stories.

Could we lay here forever? And count the stars when they emerge?

How many do you think are out there? And how did they occur?

Do you think we'll one day join them?

Well, I don't have the answers.

Reviews

[Rick Puetter]

An interesting piece, but I'm struggling a bit to understand the underlying message. Perhaps it is living under the uncertainty of not knowing. If that is the case, I understand this "pain" very well. Indeed it has driven my career as a scientist. I know I'll never have all the answers (à la Socrates, I'm pretty smart and I know that I know nothing), but I needed to have as many answers as I could. And I think seeking, and finding some of the answers, removes the despair that one is powerless to know.

Yes, the Earth spins on it's axis (which changes tilt from time to time), and it's in an elliptical (but not very eccentric) orbit around the sun. This happen for inverse square laws in three dimensions. So that's the reason why, at least classically. We need a quantum theory of gravity, however, to really understand this and fold everything together with the seven folded space dimensions currently believed necessary for a string theory explanation of the know particles--see, a long way from knowing all the answers!

No, all the stars aren't yellow and white. There are blue and red stars, too. Look at Betelgeuse, the super-giant star in Orion's shoulder, which is clearly red. It depends on the temperature of the stellar photosphere which gives off a fair approximation to blackbody radiation since the photosphere is optically thick at almost all wavelengths. So the peak wavelength of emission is inversely proportional to the temperature of the photosphere.

No two snowflakes are alike simply because of the numerics of the statistical mechanics that govern the formation of snowflakes. It's not that it isn't possible, it's just highly unlikely. It's like dropping some dye into a bowl of water and watching it disperse. It never concentrates back again into the original drop. It's not that it's impossible, it just that this is very unlikely.

In our galaxy there are approximately 300 billion stars, and currently there are about 100 billion galaxies in the sky. (This changes in time, and there used to be many more galaxies. Further in 100 billion years, there will only be the local group of galaxies in the sky and they will all have coalesced into a single, large galaxy.) The stars form by gravitational collapse of much more massive clouds of gas. Current population I stars are younger and form more rapidly because of the presence of heavy elements which allow the gas to cool more effectively. Population II stars are typically smaller and older and formed less efficiently because of the absence of heavy metals. Star formation is still a area of active research, however. So again, far from all the answers, here.

And will we join the stars one day? Currently, this seems very unlikely because of the great distances, the resources needed, and the comparatively short life spans of people. But who knows? Maybe there is more to know and that will allow us to get there one day.

Certainly not complete answers, but somewhat comforting. These days, with the announcement of the discovery of the Higgs boson in July of 2012, we even think we know have the Universe formed. It's almost unimaginable that man can know such things.

Finally, no, I don't know who made the medal for the runner. But I bet we could find out.

My very best regards. I enjoyed your poem very much and I hope you don't feel this review is not disrespective of your piece. Quite the contrary, I assure you. It fired up al my motivations for what I did with my life. So you got right under my skin. Wonderfully done! High marks!

Rick