The Uncertainty Principle
A poem
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
The dread of uncertainty
at times wish I were dead
unproductive thoughts
run amok in my head
stuck in the middle
caught in a rut
I close my eyes,
breathe ...
listen to the dawn;
crickets, gulls,
a low-lying hum
clock radio blinks
every second counts,
present moving
to past;
stop, wait, think.
A crow caws, its song:
music, some might say
summer begins to fade
but the heat will remain
at least for a time
this virus, so stubborn
bored into our psyche
grinding
gnashing
bearing the weight
of our crosses.
Collectively alone
together we stand
but do we?
what is there to stand for?
what is in store?
the right to be unhappy
or happy as what?
to go back to auto-pilot,
automatons, buy stuff?
stop and think
that’s all I have done
philosophical paralysis
I just wanna give hugs
worry about masks
and keep distance
is what we must do,
but for how long?
nobody knows
as long as it takes
then we can resume
some certainty,
but wait …
certainty is an illusion
like the myth
of eternal growth,
perfection or bliss
If you want to be happy,
be happy be sad
be angry be quick
be slow be judgy
be loving be sick
be numb be alive
be ecstatic
be contrived
be kind be gentle
be depressed
be brave
be nothing
be anything
decompress
behave
be a weathervane of humanity
be sunshine be rain
be cloudy be stormy
be all of these things
let it envelop, permeate
your being your skin
then let it pass
free yourself!
from your mind,
your prison
let it unfold
see it through
detach from the drama
examine your truth(s)
what have you been told
free will or preprogrammed belief
fate in the cards
will your faith bring relief?
Faith is a construct
we use to survive
intersubjective reality
connected to the hive
Can you help what you want,
is it really a choice?
of course! you think,
what it boils down to,
this crucible, this life?
that question remains
find your meaning
—or not—
be grateful you’re alive
to exist
to bear witness
to these times
uncertain of what
will come out
the other side
we will adapt we will thrive
we will suffer we will strive
we will struggle we will hurt
we will love we will try
we will fall we will stand
we will stutter we will plan
we will hate we will forgive
we will fight we will live
At the subatomic,
momentum;
position;
cannot both
be clearly defined
Uncertainty—
we must make
peace with it,
in these strange
and fascinating
times.
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle states we can't measure simultaneously the position and the momentum of a particle with absolute precision. The more we know about one value, the more uncertain we are about the other.
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