Let me begin by forgetting your name
and remembering the charge
that exists between bodies.

Let me hold on to my youth by letting go
     (But don't,
       whatever happens,
       let me fall.)
if I can thaw the static, creaking joint
where need and reason meet.

    (Please believe that I'd be kinder to continue
     in deep freeze till you're beyond my reach.)

Don't allow my clasping hands to close on empty air,
my mouth to fill with empty words,
my mind with empty cares.
Keep pushing...
    (But don't,
     whatever happens,
     let me fall.)

Though it's true I'd be safer to freeze indefinitely,
let me end at the beginning by forgetting yet again.

12/16/2008

Author's Note: This piece began as a meditation on the Casimir Effect (which I had momentarily confused with the Higgs Bosun during a Google search) and morphed into a confused account of my need to continually pursue higher learning. It can also be read with romantic subtext.

Posted on 12/17/2008
Copyright © 2025 Lacy D Phillips