I am the pale scientist the night wraith
Solitary hunter of matters ghosts
Mocker of your gods eternal
Seeker of the universal truth
In another age
I would have been put to the fire.

From my rocky tomb
Deep into the planet
Under strata millions of years long
Yes truly under the ground
My devices hold their vigil
Listening for a silent sound
My computers sing a strange song
Whilst debating their calculations.

I seek the whisper of a rumour
An alteration so subtle
It is almost without meaning
This dark power
Binder of galaxy and universe alike
Its presence is in absence revealed.

A breath exhaled in another dimension
So slight merely the thought of an idea
A pattern that suggests
That something that cannot be perceived
Has left a shadow that can.

A whisper passing by never really here
Is this the voice of the universe
Familiar yet strange
I liken myself to the cave dweller
Who examines a smart phone
And from the component parts
Pursues a truth not easily found.

This is why
At a time when my shadow should be long
I sit hunched over my screen
Seeking my dark star.

©️  David Fry May 15th 2019 A microversion of this poem is published by  @blackboughpoetry Issue 2.