The narrating voices that, entwined or in juxtaposition, tell us about the universe are only two. Light and gravity. In the story that emerges, the invisible holds sway. What we can observe is simply an exception.
—Ersilia Vaudo
But man cannot master this lesson,
the lesson of stone:
he tumbles, his body crumbles,
his word and voice unravel.
Fire, water and tree
steal themselves:
dying, they seek a mineral body
and find the road to glory:
steady, the stone shines
like a hard new rose.
—Pablo Neruda
the lesson of stone:
he tumbles, his body crumbles,
his word and voice unravel.
Fire, water and tree
steal themselves:
dying, they seek a mineral body
and find the road to glory:
steady, the stone shines
like a hard new rose.
—Pablo Neruda
I want the light
locked inside to awaken:
crystalline flower,
wake as I do:
eyelids raise the curtain
of endless earthen time
until deeply buried eyes
flash clear enough again
to see their own clarity.
—Pablo Neruda
locked inside to awaken:
crystalline flower,
wake as I do:
eyelids raise the curtain
of endless earthen time
until deeply buried eyes
flash clear enough again
to see their own clarity.
—Pablo Neruda
NOTES
—Top photo, to honor Earth Day: Earthrising beyond Moon, from Artemis II, NASA, March 2026
—Top photo, to honor Earth Day: Earthrising beyond Moon, from Artemis II, NASA, March 2026
—Photos: Petroglyphs on a rock wall, Owens Valley, Inyo County CA, March 2026, Douglas Beauchamp
—Ersilia Vaudo (Astrophysicist with the European Space Agency), from The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions (2025, trans from Italian by Vanessa Di Stefano)
—Pablo Neruda (1904-1973, Nobel 1971), from Stones of the Sky.
1970/Spanish, 1987/English trans by James Nolan, Copper Canyon Press
—Ersilia Vaudo (Astrophysicist with the European Space Agency), from The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions (2025, trans from Italian by Vanessa Di Stefano)
—Pablo Neruda (1904-1973, Nobel 1971), from Stones of the Sky.
1970/Spanish, 1987/English trans by James Nolan, Copper Canyon Press
