Love Without Death
Forever, Darling, that’s how long my love for you will last
Which means something quite different now than it did in the past
Now that minds can be digitized with backup copies made
And body-death is no longer reason to be afraid
Our love will measure not the years but centuries amassed
And dwindle not until the very stars themselves degrade
*
Together we will trot around this spinning blue-green globe
From one hotel in every land we’ll steal a bathrobe
While still alive we’ll venture to the colony on Mars
Sit under a glass dome to watch the sky and smoke cigars
Then once a microchip has replaced our brain’s frontal lobe
We’ll board a space ship and sail out among the distant stars
*
At one percent light speed it will take centuries, it’s true
But I will gladly spend millennia alone with you
Spray copies of our bonded selves throughout the Milky Way
Find new stars to watch rise and be together one more day
Our love will seed the galaxy quite full before we’re through
And make of it a never-ending honeymoon chalet
*
This exploration though will be but our opening act
Not one percent of one percent of our marriage in fact
One hundred trillion years ’til new stars are no longer made
Then one quintillion more ’til the galaxies are decayed
At that point all of matter will start to become compact
As all atoms are into massive black holes then arrayed
*
Good news my love—there is no reason we cannot go on
Throughout this era flitting always hither and then yon
Chasing the energy our computation will require
While making time for sights our ancient eyes wish to admire
Until even the black holes lastly made are finally gone
But even then perhaps we shall not be forced to retire
*
For in the endless epochs stuck between that day and this
If all the scientists who study do not act remiss
Perhaps they will through genius and time find the needed spark
Of inspiration to make energy out of the dark
And keep us yet from dying in that cold, distant abyss
By wringing computation out of some remaining quark
*
With such a miracle to help our potential lifespan
Approximately forever shall we be wife and man
A trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years
Our love shall far out live the dance of the celestial spheres
And though it obviously sounds like quite the lovely plan
Now that I put it that way it hits different in my ears
*
It’s not that you’re not wonderful of course you are and more
But after a quadrillion years mightn’t I be a bore?
I wonder just what we will talk about when stars are dead
When we’ve no thumbs to twiddle and the universe has fled
Please do not doubt the purity of how thee I adore
But we should put conditions on the manner we are wed
*
I will love you forever sounds wonderful when you’re young
But may ring with regret after the hand of time is flung
For now our passion runs too hot and full to be denied
My heart demands I offer you my love unqualified
Still though it doesn’t seem so grand when slipping from my tongue
What if we just swore we’d be wed until our bodies died?
END
Thanks as always for reading! If you enjoyed this poem, please help me out by liking, commenting, and sharing with others. Have a great week, and I’ll be back next Sunday with something fun.
Owen, this is a beautiful poem about love, death and the quadrillion years inbetween!
hehehe