The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

This month’s Saturday Spotlight theme is Poems. Last week I shared Today by Mary Oliver, which you can find here.

This week I am sharing a poem that is new to me, but I loved it. I find it a very soothing poem, and I hope you enjoy it, too! The poem I am sharing is The Sciences Sing a Lullaby by Albert Goldbarth.

Physics says: go to sleep. Of course

you’re tired. Every atom in you

has been dancing the shimmy in sliver shoes

nonstop from mitosis to now.

Quit tapping your feet. They’ll dance

inside themselves without you. Go to sleep.

Geology says: it will be all right. Slow inch

by inch America is giving itself to the ocean. Go to sleep. Let darkness

lap at your sides. Give darkness an inch.

You aren’t alone. All of the continents used to be

one body. You aren’t alone. Go to sleep.

Astronomy says: the sun will rise tomorrow,

Zoology says: on rainbow-fish and lithe gazelle,

Psychology says: but first it has to be night, so

Biology says: the body-clocks are stopped all over

town

and

History says: here are blankets, layer on layer,

down and down.