Gravity

by Paul Pines

Isaac Newton
wanted to burn down the house
his mother slept in with
her second husband
after abandoning him
to his grandmother
spent much of his adult years
in a wooden shack attached
to his room at Trinity College
trying to distill gold
from dross

decoding the shape of space
in the algorithms
of Ezekiel’s description of the old temple
in Jerusalem
measurements
to clarify laws
governing the character
and origin of
motion

a digital man in an analogue world
likened an apple to the moon
and fell too soon before
there was language
sufficient
to his thought