Person of the Century
Copyright © 2000, 2005
Jason Lester Atkins
985 Fleet Drive, #347
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
All Rights Reserved.
Riding on a beam of speeding light
flashing out among our spirit gatherings,
Albert's knowing energy of compassion flows:
knowing life is a photograph of the brain:
knowing his brain stolen by Princeton pathologist:
flashing picture wisdoms from a stationary time
before he was all mustache and wrinkles:
zapping, a million years into eternity's second:
teaching we are but temporary consuming guests
on our whirling ball of blue mud called earth:
waiting for our next contrived millennium:
waiting for our next constructed apocalypses:
consuming sixty million years of dinosaur's blood:
consuming trees and plants creating air:
asking, how many earths surround two billion stars:
knowing spirit and knowledge evolve
clutching strong impulses from our primitive pasts:
seeing last millennium a child of physics:
seeing new millennium a child of biology:
knowing we must lift the veil on smallest things,
discovering quantums of light on the back of a mouse:
knowing, roads to enlightenment are not star voyages
disturbing old beliefs that prevent love: learning,
"Science without religion is lame: Religion without science is blind:"
placing gold crowns and silver robes on Priests
surrenders love's power to a passing artifact:
surrenders power of what we make of God.
Some Information About the Above Poem
This poem was written in response to Time Magazine's naming Albert Einstein the "Person of the Century."
Speeding light (E = mc^2) refers to the relativity of time and space - at speed of light - to a stationary observer.
Einstein's brain was stolen during his autopsy in 1955 and it turned up again in 1999.
Dinosaur's blood refers to "oil." It took 60 million years to produce and we use it up in 150 years.
Child of physics and star voyages refers to space travel.
Child of biology refers to DNA research and quantums.
The back of a mouse refers to internet computer research.
The quote in the fourth line from the end is from Albert Einstein.
Jason Lester Atkins, February 18, 2000.
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