'Atom in the Universe’

Time to share a friend’s favourite poem, by the late, great physicist Richard Feynman:

'Atom in the Universe’

...I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think.

There are the rushing waves, mountains of molecules
Each stupidly minding its own business
Trillions apart, yet forming white surf in unison

Ages on ages, before any eyes could see
Year after year, thunderously pounding the shore as now
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet, with no life to entertain

Never at rest, tortured by energy
Wasted prodigiously by the sun, poured into space
A mite makes the sea roar

Deep in the sea, all molecules repeat the patterns
Of one another till complex new ones are formed
They make others like themselves
And a new dance starts

Growing in size and complexity
Living things, masses of atoms, DNA, protein
Dancing a pattern ever more intricate

Out of the cradle onto the dry land
Here it is standing
Atoms with consciousness, matter with curiosity
Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering

I, a universe of atoms
An atom in the universe

     - Richard P. Feynman