From Matter to Us
The big bang, or materialization,
One of many, was prosperous for us,
For its constants allowed for life’s basis
‘Though it didn’t have us in mind at all.
It arose from some unbreakable stuff,
Perhaps several such eternal things,
Or the same from previous contraction;
But not from nothing, for how could this be?
Now, if the big bang’s material result
Was not favorable for our becoming,
Then we wouldn’t be here to discuss it.
‘Though auspicious, it guaranteed nothing.
Matter and antimatter formed of it,
In equal parts, most of it anililating;
However, some black holes evaporated,
Leaving a fortunate amount of matter.
Matter’s here that works as building blocks,
The strong force’s stability opposed
To the weak force’s dispersal through decay,
Plus electromagnetism’s motion.
Lucky, not planned, all this gave us a chance,
As from the stars cameth our help and hope,
When they generated all the elements
That brewed a soup of fortuitous accidents.
Earth was a golden distance from the sun—
A large number of other planets unfit;
Earth’s features evolved in a good proportion
To sustain the beginnings of early life.
Soil and sun’s plants generated oxygen;
Death chose the useful forms over the useless,
Kept track of by RNA-like structures
In life’s cradle, though we had not yet appeared.
Our blind fated road was much further paved
When asteroids finished most of the species,
Far from a feature of intelligent design,
But it was just the opening we needed.
Evolution sifted through the accidents,
As it directed the good from the bad;
We began from the fusing of chromosomes
That made us incompatible with “chimps”.
From matter to us—to all our senses,
To our brains, our minds, and consciousness,
In a universe of matter and space,
Past and future, we won the human race.
It only took 13.7 billion years,
For these many rare events to occur;
Though just a few of the coin tosses were good,
The bad tosses went nowhere in a hurry!
Well, I’ve left a lot of good fortune out,
And perhaps you readers can help fill it in;
Know, too, that bad luck may come as well:
Global warming, nuclear war, or more asteroids.
The lure of myth is ever great to man;
But, beyond the apparent solidity
Of the word “faith” is its meaning—of
Belief in the unseen supernatural!
Matter and motion manufactures all
Being and time in the arena of space,
We the complex composites from simple stuff,
The ultimate, so far, in the universe.