The Universe of Missing Mass

John Sacelli

 

when i was a child i went to mass.

didn’t like it much. 

our father which art in heaven  .  . 

is there really witch art in heaven?

do they cast spells, burn sinners

in latin?

was afraid, didn’t like it much

when i was a young man

left the church, joined the masses

revolution

of the masses,

by the masses

for the masses

didn’t care for that either

mass movements, mass murder

scared me too

now an old man

and the subject is still mass

the mass of the earth

which binds us here

gravity, the grave

mass, masses,

massed armies, fortunes amassed,

mass hysteria, mass extinctions,

mass illusion

oh, i know, it has a purpose

mass – held us here

while we learned

held us together

while we grew

the masses did the work

built farms and forms

cities and societies

but now

i have to leave

want to leave

i want to fly

skip the scene

skip the unseen

the earth is massive

jupiter more so

the sun, still more

but when we fly, high enough

they are small, tiny, vanishing

it is my time

to be untied

to be untide

i will not cheat you

i will not cheat the earth

matter, mass

i will leave my body

atoms, ashes

then leave my bodhi

leave my bodhisattva

with all these young masses

i will be

what physics, churches

nations  cannot find  –

the universe of missing mass