Immortality

by Susan A. Hagedorn

Word has reached us that Susan A. Hagedorn passed away on Friday, September 16. Her poem “Immortality” appeared in issue 470 on March 12, 2012. It might bring to mind some ancient wisdom: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2Peter 3:8). Associate Editor Cheryl W. Ruggiero remembers her friend in this issue.

Galaxies pirouette with ponderous grace,
Novas shatter,
Suns are born, flare, and wink out.

Time is my steadfast friend and weighty enemy.
From where I stand,
Each second a million years.

I sneeze,
And a thousand civilizations fail.
I live forever and die simultaneously.

I am suspended here,
Frozen in time,
Caught in the event horizon.