How many ways is gravity like love?
Said to be the weakest force in the universe.
Not an attraction, but a distortion in space.
Accumulating in strength around masses.
Where, when compounded and compounded,
physics breaks— space and time switch place.
Where infinity is the closest we've got
to explaining the heights and depths,
once fallen into such states.
How many ways is gravity like love?
Refusing to fit nicely into a unified theory
of this thing we call reality. Constantly surprising,
a force requiring fudge factors, we plug in numbers
to fit our observations and hypothesis.
We spend lifetimes trying to connect dots,
string together new dimensions math resolves,
only to end up entangled in the same spooky stuff.
A couple, of orbiting masses, caught up.
How many ways is gravity like love?
It is not the only force in the universe.
Others are at play, and each interfere
with the bonds we make. Like carrier pigeons,
with messages tied to their legs, we exchange
energy, electricity, and radiation. Transforming
as we interact, sometimes losing signals,
changing colors, decreasing in mass. We assume
it too must be sent, astonished by its ubiquitousness.