Wise

So at last we have found
 new footprints of the universe:
 Einstein's gravitational waves
 imagined, yet undiscovered
 until now.
 These ripples in space and time,
 made by ancient collisions
 of black holes somewhere out there
 beyond our stars,
 are an inscrutable mystery to me.
 But as I walk through my corner
 of this cosmic morning,
 I tarry just a moment
 in this ripple of a New England winter--
 so cold and fearsome--
 to wonder about this universe,
 this life,
 and why it is so difficult
 to understand.
 I stop by the back door,
 look at the white woods,
 the freckled sky,
 and think
 that maybe I should be
 wise enough just
 to be quiet
 and wonder
 at the snow.


--Timothy Haut, Feb. 15, 2016