13.8 Billion Years Ago

 

                                                            By Fabrice Poussin

The moment I was born

in the mind of a giant at

the onset of the universe

I recall

 

not a glimpse into the light

nor a sound of the cataclysm

or the colors of the flash

I perceived

 

a hint of tingling in that which

would ultimately become me

without shape in solid or fluid

something sought

 

a way to another form

13.8 billion years to the day

that I may write this testimony

to the hours

 

to come and run astray

to another time, another galaxy

yet to exist in the distance

a future

 

unknown, billions of years again

what will I be then

a whole world perhaps if only I could remember

this moment.

About the author: Fabrice Poussin is a professor of French and World Literature. His work in poetry and photography has appeared in Kestrel, Symposium, The Chimes, and hundreds of other publications worldwide. Most recently, his collections In Absentia, and If I Had a Gun, Half Past Life were published in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Silver Bow Publishing.