Accidents

I am an accident of the universe, or so the story goes

It started quite some time ago, they say the science shows. 

At first a monstrous explosion that is hard to comprehend,

Then debris clumps in stars and planets, it seems without end.

Just why this should happen is a puzzle of cosmology,

Gravity they call it, just a muddle of tautology.

I’m sure there is a reason for this celestial array,

But the easiest explanation is they like it that way.

Photons are a mystery, are they particle or wave?

I find it hard to understand the way that they behave. 

A black hole is a riddle caused by fusion or collision,

A bizarre singularity of strange composition.

Scattered round the universe like funereal confetti,

They suck in all around and stretch it like spaghetti.

Why they do this none can absolutely say, 

But we can tell for certain, they must like it that way.

Then patterns form in water on a planet lost in space

And the patterns clump together, for it’s stable in that place.

The patterns get more complex as they begin to group,

And, before you know it, we’ve got primordial soup.

If it can happen will happen, so chance is not to blame,

Yet when cells start to multiply it feels miraculous all the same.

Rounds of replication and rounds of bifurcation,

An accidental sequence of obscure causation.

We don’t know why they did this but it’s clear as day

That they like it that way.

Soon creatures grow in the sea, and fish escape to land.

In the blink of an eye there are reptiles in the sand.

Generation after generation by some fluke created,

Improved by random changes that seem absolutely fated.

Mammals, birds and insects all struggling to survive, 

Until, because he’s clever, homo sapiens starts to thrive.

And each generation picks from the features on display,

So the offspring are more valued and they’re liked that way. 

In case you don’t believe the story that I’m telling,

It’s supported by science that is ever so compelling.

Fully tested hypotheses, it must be true enough,

I’m really not so canny I could make up all this stuff.

All these things have come to pass by chance events in series,

And here am I at the end of a line, evidence of these theories. 

It was random how I came about but survival led to fitness

To learn about such accidents and bear astonished witness. 

I never was here before, and no return is planned,

So why should I feel the need to try and understand?

I could have been a tiger burning in the forest bright,

Or a hawk in weightless quiet, asserting my right.

But at least I’m not a snake crawling by a water trough,

With a petty writer throwing logs to scare me off.

It’s weird being me, no pre-existence to recall,

And I daily wake to wonder at the reasons for it all.

I am an accident of the universe, so were my parents too,

Though I pretend I’m special, I’m just a variant like you.

We are naturally occurring mishaps, just like our better halves,

Who we meet by accident on intersecting paths.

Our children may be accidents or the products of romance,

Either way, you have to say, they owe a lot to chance.

Others too will join this zoo in their fortuituous grace,

To continue the refinement of the dubious human race.

We all glimpse a speck of universe for a microscopic span,

A different glance for each because there is no masterplan.

As I mellow and consider all that’s happened since my birth,

Yet I yearn for more adventures, happy accidents of worth.

I hope that we’ve connected through this accidental rhyme. 

I am an accident of the universe.  You too are one sublime. 

You’re a cosmic freak, you are unique.  

Make the most of all your time.

What accidents are next?  What do the scientists suppose?

They’re perplexed by effects of butterflies.  So goodness only knows.

Can we stop all the disaster?  Can we finally go green?

Will AI be our master?  Or solve problems unforeseen? 

Will we become bionic, with encyclopaedic wisdom?

And will we emigrate to Mars then leave the solar system?

Any of these accidents might cause you and me dismay,

But the beings that survive it all will like it that way.

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