The Near Side of Mercury

The Near Side of Mercury

(“This is what the Lord says: ‘Never be afraid of the words that you have heard…’” 2 Kings 19:6)

Shake the earth, turn it upside down until all the sand has fallen
in a long pine-cone shape toward the sun. Give it a vigorous quake,
pour out the oceans until they swirl like milk around the moon. Toss
it against the galactic walls until the edges are worn down and even;
string a line from Everest to the Sahara and discover they are finally level.
Are you finished? Have the mountains fallen, have the valleys filled with
new sludge?

Next, vacuum the atmosphere clean and dry. That’s right, let each molecule of
oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and all the rest that join ions without our permission;
let them burn into oblivion before they reach the near side of Mercury.

Have you done all that? Have you reduced it all to less than
thoughts in your head? Are the Capitols gone, the Thrones smelted?
Has the sea run its final race and the desert its last hum?
Do you look at the sky, sans the sun and every other star,
and now wonder where they are?

Where are the conspirators now? You feared each president
and knocked every suggestion on the head.
You never agree with what you read.

Is this a place for you, where you can make up the news
before breakfast, before you get out of bed? Is this the place
you without opposition, where all agree with your perfect
analogies.

You never liked what you breathed. So fill your lungs
now that every element is split into its separate parts:
neutrons, electrons and protons; the hollow solid world
you thought you understood is now divided evenly across the
entire universe; smaller than the tiny impulses in your head.

And now, if I may take my leave, I believe I shall
enjoy a hike along the wonderful Columbia and shake my head
at worlds made empty by fear and dread.