Neutrinos and the holy spirit
by Geoff Page
Our physics and our metaphysics, how close they often are:
the staircase of theology; the gaps from star to star.
Neutrinos and the holy spirit make a sprightly pair,
the latter as a tongue of fire or dove down through the air;
the former near but not quite at the sacred speed of light
and just above nonzero mass. When I'm in bed at night
fifty trillion mute neutrinos sweep through me every second
and through the earth as well, it seems, while theologians reckon
how the holy spirit widens all about the world,
felt at times through fire and doves - but do I see it, curled
contentedly inside my dreams? Has it nonzero mass?
Can it be measured in a tank through which its rivals pass?
Neither's seen by rods and cones; neutrinos though are caught
by clever dials. The holy spirit soars from human thought.