Perspective

WISPIT 2b

Dear Readers,

I was reading this week about WISPIT 2b – the new discovery of an early evolving planet circling a young version of a sun amidst concentric dust rings. It’s only 5 million years old and is 430 light years away. In many different ways, this discovery blows my mind! (And among all the sparking delight in my brain, a feeling of pride too, that a Galway University Research team were part of this discovery.)

One imagines that with the development of ever powerful telescopes, this new system of dust rings will give us some insight into how our own solar system was formed. How cool is that?

So back to a very insignificant poem, but I don’t mind because truly, in the scale of things, it’s only a miniscule degree more insignificant than anything you care to image!

Le Grá,

Frances

Perspective

With other pilgrim walkers,
we made our way on clay 
paths, the Pyrenees left
behind, heading south 
west towards Pamplona,
our antennae primed for
fish signs to guide us 
along the optimal trail, 
made by those gone 
before us on this trek. 
Some carried back packs.
We had purpose in our step.
No impediments until
I stopped in my track
for a line of ants crossing 
the path. I was halted 
by the systematic way
they followed each other, 
the intentional nature 
of their journey. Some  
carried debris the length
of their low sprung backs, 
bodies which seemed 
to bounce between 
filament legs. They held 
their loads steady
despite their giddy gait. 
I looked down on
these tiny creatures, 
felt a wry benevolence,
amused myself by naming
their crossing odyssey 
–a perilous one -  considering 
the boot-fall in the vicinity.
Then, as if a lens pulled back 
rapidly to the thermosphere
of space, I saw what astronauts 
might see if they zoomed in 
on the northern face of Spain:
specks of Camino walkers, 
heading one thin direction
on an infinitesimal dust trail.