Working on the Human Genome

‘Francis Collins is a committed Christian and heads the publicly-funded National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) in Washington DC, US…His professional reward, he says, comes when he discovers something that “the creator knew ahead of time - that's one of the aspects of my existence I wouldn't trade for anything”.’ BBC News


Working on the Human Genome

I am working in the realm of Grace -
when I hang up my bright white coat,

its hollow arms fall sloppily warm,
droop open like tired wings - shine

under dazzling laboratory light.
I have been borrowed, loaned -

when I return from my labour
to familiar family and friends,

my tongue babbles white smiles;
I think when I touch my children

you will see this character silver
dripping from my loving fingers -

like the blood of mercury, nectar,
printing invisibly as kisses print,

shining their interior molecules -
because I have touched the divine.

I think they will see it -
in the pupils of my eyes,

like an infection of stars, love-scar,
because I have witnessed the divine;

so carefully unwrap the packaging,
to see the holy, golden gifts inside,

stripped of skin and shape.
And yet, I am there too -

all shining, shimmer-shivery,
as if stepped from the shower;

like a dripping silver ghost, indistinct -
then slipping even from this live ghost,

like a glorious embroidered robe -
and laughing aloud to see myself

only as code, known
as Word and light -

message and meaning;
love-print in the world.

All this makes me feel wonderful; as if
I come home looking just like the Moon.