Cosmic Hand

ω

               Once upon a ghostly star,
               knee-deep in a darkling place
               I meandered off too far
               into outer, outer space.

               As I wandered in this land
               of the void beyond the night,
               suddenly I saw a hand
               reaching for a cosmic light.

               Though lost in darkness dreary
               and adrift in bleak despair,
               disheartened, weak, and weary,
               I could not but stop and stare.

               Such a wondrous illusion
               floated in those blackened skies!
               Was this only delusion
               that I saw before my eyes?

               Did collapsed star long ago,
               pulsar spinning crazily,
               cause that nebulaic glow
               emanating hazily?

               Was this sight to be believed?
               Astrophysical ideal?
               Pareidolia perceived?
               Yet the phantasm seemed real!

               Fingers colored brilliant blue
               clutching at a fiery band
               formed a most amazing view
               of this archetypal hand.

               And my musing mind was full
               of this inner mystic spell
               serving as the heavens’ pull
               out of my own private hell.

               That ethereal display
               brought me eerily around,
               showing me the light of day
               and a destiny profound.

               Ever onward I would plod,
               thus to seek the truth inside,
               on a path that few had trod
               where deep wisdom would abide.

               With this purpose as my guide,
               though the way might twist and bend,
               I would live until I died
               with enlightenment my end.

               Yea, it was as if a dream
               of a helping hand within
               shone a bright eternal beam
               where obscurity had been.


               ~ Harley White

            

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Inspiration for the poem was from the article ~ Cosmic Hand Reaches for the Light...

In addition, inspiration derived from the teachings and writings of Nichiren Daishōnin, as well as Martin Bradley’s interpretative writings about them…

Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō means to devote our lives to and found them on (Nam[u]) the Utterness of the Dharma (Myōhō) [entirety of existence, enlightenment and unenlightenment] permeated by the underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) in its whereabouts of the ten [psychological] realms of dharmas [which is every possible psychological wavelength] (Kyō).

The reason that we continually recite Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō

Tiny and dying but still-powerful stars called pulsars spin like crazy and light up their surroundings, often with ghostly glows. So it is with PSR B1509-58, which long ago collapsed into a sphere just 12 miles in diameter after running out of fuel.

The scene, which spans 150 light-years, is about 17,000 light years away, so what we see now is how it actually looked 17,000 years ago, and that light is just arriving here.

Red represents low-energy X-rays, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are colored blue. The blue hand-like structure was created by energy emanating from the nebula around the dying star PSR B1509-58. The red areas are from a neighboring gas cloud called RCW 89.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill