Leptons
(Greek again—the ‘light’ elementary particles: electron ε,
muon μ,  tau τ, and neutrino ν)

(i) Electrons

At this imponderable level
Matter loses its concentration,
Becoming almost mathematical foam.

Another of Nature’s lucky shots:
The electron weighs one
Thousandth the mass of a proton,
Yet its negative charge neutralises
The proton’s electric field—exactly.

It’s as if each fundamental clan knows
That it must play ball with the other,
Constitutes itself in advance
And overcomes the millenial gulf.

Because of such teamwork
Matter remains stable,
And we’re here to weigh the result.

(ii) Neutrinos – ‘little neutral ones’, no electric charge,
negligible or no mass

An answer may be blowing in the solar wind.
While you read, billions of neutrinos
Inundate your body at the speed of light.
By this comma, they’re already past the moon!

Individually, the lightest entity yet detected.
But there are so many self-effacing eunuchs
(100-1000 swamp every cubic centimetre),
Collectively, they may outweigh all the visible galaxies!

Could this block the cosmic expansion,
Throttling the universe, squeezing it back
To a ‘Big Crunch’?  Don’t dismiss the lightweights—
They might pack the knockout punch!

The Powers of Ten
(The earliest moment science can explain is an astonishing 10^-43 seconds ABT;
whereas the present moment is a ‘mere’ 10¹⁷ seconds ABT)

Here I am, down the cosmic bunker
Forty three steps below the initial second,
Each level slashing that primal
Instant by one more factor of ten—
A mind-numbing fraction.

No laughing matter, the first puff
Of transience shaped the universe
More than anything engineered ever since.
Look, all creative events are underground,
Buried beneath an avalanche of zeros.
           Forming galaxies, a blimp
           When measured on this scale.

Your rung on the ladder sure is
No ground for complacency.
An Ivory Tower seventeen indices
Above the surface – no great shakes.

           Relying on what power
           Did you inch your way
           Up that slope?

0000000001 10
  000000001  9
   00000001 8
     0000001  7
       000001 6
         00001  5
           0001   4
             001  3
               01   2
       ONE SECOND AFTER THE BEGINNING OF TIME
             - 2    10
             - 3    100
             - 4    1000
             - 5    10000
             - 6    100000
             - 7    1000000
             - 8    10000000
             - 9    100000000
             -10    1000000000
             -11    10000000000
             -12    100000000000
             -13    1000000000000
             -14    10000000000000
             -15    100000000000000
             -16    1000000000000000
             -17    10000000000000000
             -18    100000000000000000
             -19    1000000000000000000
             -20    10000000000000000000
             -21    100000000000000000000
             -22    1000000000000000000000
             -23    10000000000000000000000

About the Poet
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