Natural Rhythms

Martin Knox

There are rhythms in percussive sound
Formed in songs and wondrous tunes,
Constructive—
Of which all our worlds abound.
Then there’s noise
Moon-hauled,
Destructive,
Ocean bound,
Cataclysmic noise.

But fruitful rhythms accrue in Maxwell’s waves,
Synchronous and bright,
Short, medium and long,
Travelling at the speed of light.

Circadian rhythms sometimes
Keep us awake at night—
Heart rate exceeding sixty beats per minute—
Those optic nerve pulses
Are behind my fretting REM:
Then I awake with fright.

Presently, the nightmare dies.

I heard the agéd music of the spheres
I heard the beating drums of distant stars
Reflected in the breathing of the skies
Releasing the rhythms of the heavens
In the beating hearts behind pulsars.

The Science

For this poem I have taken special inspiration from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, and Bertrand Russell's The Wisdom of the West. Today, so many have no idea what science is about or how science actually works, while others audaciously give the impression that their particular pursuit is scientific, while such endeavours lack the very rudiments of scientific method. Education must provide the answers to this kind of ignorance, but seems to be failing. So many citizens vote for politicians who frequently rely on mendacities and gratuitous assertions to promote their nefarious causes. We must seek to determine why so many of us fall into this trap.

The Poet

Martin Knox, PhD in Chemistry, has spent twenty years in teaching and another twenty in industry, specifically in the pharmachem industry. Through his own company he has offered consultancy (safety, quality, environment), as well as auditing services. Since 2012 he has taken to writing poetry, and his collection Words without Song was published in 2020 through Publisher Authorhouse.

Next poem: Petrichor by Janis Anne Rader