Poems - Marianne Dyson

Written by Marianne Dyson

Sunday, 01 March 2009 00:00

Marianne Dyson

The Past in Realtime

The old come here to deepest space to seek
their past from light that left their lives in youth
And though Louise would find the thought uncouth,
her past is there for anyone to peek
Her loves, her hates, revealed as mingled life
her golden mornings lost in childish dreams

her russet evening lost in starlight streams
now found like beauty as a virgin wife
But also all mistakes of youth she sees,
regret blooming in her heart once again
the music, quit; the bad job, done; the men
who turn to face her now, like dying bees
with stinging eyes which death cannot forgive
though space expands to stretch the times she lived.

The Fashion of Physics

The photon is a woman
deciding what to wear,
A patterned or a solid dress?
the answer isn't clear.

If you peek while she's deciding
she'll choose one just for you,
But when your back is turned again
she'll try on something new.

Even with a closet full
she'll not be satisfied,
For styles often cancel out
or wrongly coincide.

She'll slip into a dressing room
to test out something sheer,
Then change into a rigid mood
unhappy with the mirror.

Eventually she is arrayed
to interact with you,
But she arrives, to your surprise
in not one gown, but two!

The Standoff
(a Petrarchian sonnet)

We wait for bombs and death to choose the brave
On sands of heat, or oceans deep with scorn
For guns and jets, our hope against the storm
Of men too young to flee a hero's grave.
The Reaper holds his scythe so soldiers crave
To fight before the light of rightful morn,
Before our dreams of freedom are forsworn
By sun upon the dead we planned to save.

Our lovers wait, our children weep like rain
Without the clouds, forewarning us of fear
We will endure this war for nothing more
Than boundary lines of men in power, and pain.
Or worse, to wait and wait and then to hear
We lost the right to fight and end this war.

BIOGRAPHY

Marianne Dyson

http://www.mdyson.com

Marianne Dyson has a degree in physics and was one of the first ten women flight controllers for NASA. She has published five books (as of 2009), two of which have won major awards and been translated into other languages. She speaks to thousands of children about space every year, is a technical consultant and a book reviewer, and has published dozens of articles, stories, and poems, most with a space science theme. She enjoys Kuk Sool martial arts, science fiction, cats, and traveling with her family.
Visit her Web site: http://www.mdyson.com.