The Fact of a Bubble

The Fact of a Bubble


Although these liquid spheres that sit inside
a child's hand may be smaller than an apple
and marginally larger than a marble,
this dance of surface tension, space and light -
more fragile and impermanent than an egg
whose enigmatic source has long beguiled
Theology and men of agile minds -
enchants, and has for fifteen minutes fed 
my son's imagination. Simple bubbles:
soap and water, mouth-blown, filled with air,
contain no less potential than a planet,
no fewer seeds than fields of pomegranates,
a whole cosmos of metaphor and symbol
for those who hold an open hand, and stare.

~

Appears in Orbis #157