Does God Remember?

‘I come from empyrean fires - / From microscopic spaces,/ Where molecules with fierce desires,/ Shiver in hot embraces./ The atoms dash, the spectra flash,/ Projected on the screen,/ The double D, magnesianb,/ And Thallium’s living green.’ James Clerk Maxwell, 1831-79 To the Chief Musician upon Nabla

‘The shape of the DNA double helix is ideal for DNA’s role as a store and preserver of information.’ Medical Research Council, UK


Does God Remember?

Does God remember the defining;
shining organic coalescence, time

when the first cell settled -
the wondrous chemistry.

Being drawing itself into being
by its very nature, will to exist;

using anything around,
just to be, stay, still be -

the creativity with those chemicals!
Even God thought it was a miracle

when He had made it possible,
dreamed them into existence -

imagined the matrix, Word,
to call from Periodic Table,

list ingredients, principle, into life -
held his breath that it would work,

this calling to matter of pattern,
this holy glueing; good practise

for his trick of body and soul,
joining of irreconcilable stuff

only a god could possibly pull off -
like a magician with a miracle, or

two up his sleeve; bouquets
of flowers, coloured strings -

making the world rehearse
billennia until it got it right,

learned his own best tricks;
made his own organic son

to make sure he wasn’t wrong -
life was that good, that fantastic;

such a show of preposterous miracles
no-one could treat it as other than holy,

doubt the dominance, principle of love –
realised he must breathe to make it work,

stir such chemicals with light and love -
lifting out of artless mixture, possibility;

gently, slowly - not that great showy gasp
among the heavens, sneezing stars, planets

all over the place, burning his silver fingers
on the molten Sun brought hot – ferocious -

from his oven belly - rolling planet after planet
in his palm, learning, until Earth was perfected;

the world his bulging family album,
holy record - birth, marriage, death,

birth…fabulous circular ripples of life
bringing tiger, spider, flower and man;

beetle and hand, eye and grasshopper
from the same root, ingredients - art.


Were there tears He learned
when the first rain happened -

sky sobbing at the huge beauty
of her blue reflection in the sea;

Earth began to learn -
reflect fresh love back,

run with His spirit of creativity;
at the first exquisite heart flutter,

possibilities of that startling blood -
when He saw the eye coming to be

to dazzling excitement of waiting light -
first mother-creature understanding love