The Scientist Stood

The scientist stood
In his small little spaceship,
Poised at the edge of the ergosphere.
He was still safe,
For the escape velocity in the ergosphere
Does not exceed the speed of light.
And so he ventured in.

Closer and closer his little spaceship came
To the event horizon of the black hole.
This was his great adventure.
What he had studied all his life
Might today be proven true or false.
Or perhaps not proven at all.

He thought of the risks
Of spaghettification and the singularity.
He thought of his wife,
Who had believed in wormholes
And alternate universes.
Cancer had taken her many years ago,
But look as he might,
The scientist couldn’t find
Where she had gone.
So this was his last resort.

People could talk all they liked
Of research and advancing modern physics,
But all he wanted was his Charlotte
Back again.
Neither modern physics nor religion
Could answer mankind’s most primal questions,
And so he sought the answers himself.

The scientist stood
In his small little spaceship,
Poised at the edge of the event horizon.
He was still safe,
But the escape velocity of the event horizon
Is equal to the speed of light.
He could not come back from this.
Yet still he ventured in,
And neither modern physics nor religion
Can tell us where he is
Or where he went.
We can only tell this story
Of the scientist and his Charlotte,
And the search for meaning
In a world that pretends to know everything.