She speaks of dark matter, she seeks its clue.
She maps the empty, voluminous void
that fills the heavens with galactic glue;
such keeps the Queen of Science full employed.
Visible space (her realm) she understands.
The pull of planets and the death of stars;
the gaseous clusters that time expands;
with curiosity she’s there on Mars.
But what of the vast unknown, the unseen,
the invisible, lightless, hidden mass?
What sense does she make of the in between?
As yet, it would seem, not that much, alas!
. Chaos reigns above the Queen’s universe,
. order favours the black night … quite perverse!

© Tim Grace, 10 August 2012

To the reader: The Queen of Science is mathematics. Her realm, comprised of all things great and small, is understood through the logic of numbers. As with the best of monarchs, she is most interested in relationships; how things bond and bridge. The Queen’s interests follow the path of human curiosity: deep seas and shallow shores; heaven and earth; the living and the dead. She’s a woman of substance and structure; as real as she is abstract; as infinite as she is nothing.

To the poet: I remember flying, from here to there, with a popular science magazine as company. Page after page of ‘new science’ flipped before my eyes; with each flip came an array of impressive numbers; usually well-beyond my comprehension. Obviously impressed, I used my simple understanding to pay homage to the Queen of Science. The sonnet has a simple structure with the last stanza acting as counterpoint … but … there is much to learn.

Queen of Science
Picture Source:
http://youtu.be/A9S9gwhS6Yk