In Search of the God Particle

by Drenda D. Cooper

"Physicists are praying that their 4-mile-long machine
will detect a tiny bit of matter so elusive that some
consider it practically divine."...excerpt from Popular Science Magazine, Nov., 200l.

Physicists' minds flex and spew
Complex theories of flux.
From realms of the unseen
Highly imaginative possibilities
Step up to mathematical probabilities
Into incomprehensible equations, akin
To mystical, for those who think
Inside the box of three-dimensional.

Giant accelerators smash particles
Into waves, as great minds hover over
Hoping to uncover minuscule articles
Of their faith. A few, highly esteemed,
Have deemed the most fundamental
to be 'Higgs boson,' the ultimate source;
Designated by some to be 'divine',
The reason that matter has weight.

Unready, yet, to let go of the past,
Skeptics hold their breath and wait.
Unable to embrace new paradigms
That include non-matter, they need pictures;
Concrete proof of bizarre conjectures.
For fellow scientists the need arises
From competition for the Nobel prizes.
So stretches this search into the sublime.

To the brilliant few who remain on course
The 'Higgs' will become defined, confined;
No longer divine, just the smallest thus far
To take its place in proper perspective,
Reflective in the continuum of space-time.
For physicists, once more, will push the envelope;
Bend thought into understanding; destined to grope
For the core of that which has no beginning, no end.

First published in The Poetic Link
Copyright © 2003, Drenda D. Cooper

Copyright © 1997, Lorenzo Comolli

Drenda D. Cooper was born under the astrological sign of Virgo. She was a licensed pharmacist in South Carolina until she retired due to Parkinson's Disease. She began writing poetry in the early 80's under the mentorship of English Prof. Emeritus Merrell G. Christopherson, and two of her early poems were published in the North American Mentor Magazine. She enjoys reading non-fiction, especially about physics, and greatly admires Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkings.