by Brett Rutherford
1
"Infinite" means only
"unimaginably large."
Infinite in number
cannot apply
to any existent thing,
for if it were,
it would crowd out
all other existing things,
filling the universe
with copies of itself,
cancelling me,
this poem,
and you who read.
2
Infinite in duration
by which we mean
a thing is eternal —
the arrogance
of meteor alone
in space, of smug
planets whose mass
has cleared their path
in endless dull orbit —
the first amoeba's
clear intent
to outlive every one
of his kind —
the urge of every tree
to grow forever
and devour the sun
that feeds it —
means only
that one becomes
"unimaginably old,"
until the sweep
of space and time,
the tug of gravity,
collapses all,
one bubble gone
among the many.
