dimensions

geometry precludes tube-in-a-tube
for animals constrained to be 2-D
a one-way gut would split the beast in two
without a hope of contiguity
a third dimension, bridging what's been cut
allows a complicated body-plan
connecting mouth to anus with a gut
be it a crocodile, or louse, or man
but Strings want ten in Space and one in Time
imagination boggles at the task
to sketch a world that won't fit in one mind
and yet we feel compelled at least to ask
a scherzo on dimensionality
finds wide horizons once one gets past three

what is

the mystery is we might understand
with minds designed for finding fish and fruits
a universe constructed without plan
inhabited by beings whom it suits
anthropic principles toss what can't be
within our corner of the multiverse
not knowing which parameters are free
and which can change (but only for the worse)
invoking "God" concedes the mind's defeat
hypotheses are made to falsify
the Standard Model--'though it's not complete--
still outperforms old scripture's pious lie
like Goldilocks, we ponder day and night
why it should be this cosmos is just right

multiverse

if Smolin's right, the multiverse evolves
new universes springing from Black Holes
for ev'ry problem such a theory solves
we find ourselves no closer to our goals
horizons hide far more than we can see
'though 13 billion light-years might seem far
anthropic limits on what just can't be
need not apply beyond that furthest star
the more we learn, more mysteries abound
our hard-won constants might be local flukes
beyond the galaxies that we have found
a thousand life-forms might be eating nukes
improbably, both you and I exist
to mull cosmology as so much grist

dimensions

a tube-within-a-tube presumes 3-D
a gut would cleave a 2-D cell in two
constrained to such dimensionality
for 'in' and 'out' one orifice must do
one 'D' of Time plus three of Space makes four
in which we navigate our conscious lives
but what's a mind to do with seven more
when I can't even visualize five
StringTheory says we're looking at a brane
and hadrons don't deserve so large a role
but SuperSymmetry drives men insane
grad-students swallowed up like by Black Holes
this rabbit-hole could drive one 'round the bend
as guess piles on conjecture without end

In the beginning

Inflation stretched the early cosmos flat
an isotropic slate on which to draw
and fluctuations acted upon that
accreting galaxies from quantum flaws
where Paley saw a deity's firm hand
astronomers perceived that we are free
no blueprint underlies a scheme so grand
the evidence is in the CMB
as gaps get filled, religion's province shrinks
our intellects trade myths for hard-won sense
creation stands revealed to one who thinks
without invoking God's intelligence
John's gospel starts it all with the great Word
but science makes that fable look absurd

flights of fancy

across the sea, a footpath paved in gold
leads flights of fancy towards the setting sun
imagination, if not well-controlled
can slip its leash and take off at a run
might not a ship--despite what's oft observed--
keep straight its course, defying gravity
Cartesian grid instead of one that's curved
could ply the whale-road towards infinity
but then the sun's below horizon's mark
and even as the sky sheds its last gleam
the seeming pavement fades into the dark
just as the upper hemisphere's stars teem
the moment's past, the notion seems insane
and just these cryptic verses here remain

enlightened

the vault of heaven makes a guy feel small
our planet's dwarfed by even local things
a rock that's scarce worth anything at all
when set against the scale of Saturn's rings
Polaris only tells us how we spin
and which horizon's blotting out our sun
but gives no hint of how one might begin
to understand how cosmos had begun
Fraunhofer lines put bar-codes on the stars
and--once you've compensated for red-shift--
you know not only what, but where they are
and needn't feel entirely adrift
sir Isaac Newton taught us to parse light
to peel away the mysteries of night