David Barber
The Slow Gods
A
brief
tumult
of gravity,
particles, star birth,
rashes of supernovae, life,
swollen suns and galaxies smashed.
In the beginning was the Age of Stars.
As biologicals gauge time, by the orbits of worlds,
the fuss was over in just twenty billion years.
During the next hundred trillion, the stars went out
and nothing much happened that would last.
Some minds processed notions akin to Envy
and warred slowly with the Melancholics.
Time passed.
The heavens are dark;
black holes sigh and protons
long to decay. It is the start of eternity.
Near an event horizon, one thought can last
a billion years.
We
are
the
slow
gods
of
the
heat
death
and
we
have
forever
_______________
David Barber lives anonymously in the UK. He used to be a scientist, though he is retired now and is writing stories. To his surprise, he has published work in Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, Shock Totem, Electric Spec and Star*Line. He is a puzzle to his friends.
