Eternity Is But A Moment Poem by Evelyn Judy Buehler

It was a late springtime day, and the bluebirds all were singing,
Outside the classroom window, while the bells all were ringing.

I had a lucky window seat, which afforded quite amazing views,
Of lovely natural colorings, the greens pinks oranges and blues.

I had a curious eager mind, and an endless thirst for knowledge,
Like the sudden thirst for moonlight, when the skies turn orange!

Yet when the professor began to talk, my attention it wandered,
While in blooming ecstasy, nature watched as noonday sauntered.

I listened to the instructor, but without my usual full focus,
My mind was captured by daydreams, as sunbeams capture a lotus!

What if the professor knew all, I dreamily wondered to myself;
And we had one source for answers, and needed to ask no one else?

He'd be quite old and wise, every myth would then be debunked;
And the toughest of all questions, would never see him stumped!

As I gazed out the window, I noticed the room had grown still,
And when I had turned around again, I caught one sudden chill.

For the room was suddenly vacant, except for one ancient man,
Who'd replaced our professor, as if somehow by mysterious plan!

I asked him who he was, and what could be the meaning of this?
He said he was the Answer Man, and enlightening was his wish.

I asked him where he'd come from, and where the rest had gone,
As noontide wonders what happened, to the dewdrops on the lawn.

He said he was knowledge personified, and he'd always been here,
While a few eager minds see him, to ignorance he never appears!

He said class was still in session, but within another dimension,
For when unlike realities clash, it's bound to create tension.

He said he knew of my questions, for it was why he had come,
As time questions the daylight, until skies are colored plum.

The first thing I asked, is why time moves forward and not back.
He just smiled at me and asked, why would time ever backtrack?

Though the laws of physics, do not specify any arrow of time,
The universe as a whole sees one, like green in the springtime.

It is just the way things work, in this particular universe,
And matter acts as it learnt at the start, utterly unrehearsed.

Gazing at the learned professor, I asked him another question,
Why can none travel faster than light, is such speed forbidden?

Light experiences not time nor distance, the wise gentleman said,
And yet you experience both, like time of day when the sun is red!

A trillion years and a moment, to light are precisely the same;
Also a trillion miles and an inch, though called by different names.

The closer to light speed, the less time and distance experienced,
And at light speed there is none of either, not too mysterious!

To travel as fast as light, you must become the same as light is,
And that is massless energy, like golden sunshine on purple roses!

At light speed mass increases to infinity, a serious side effect,
As does the energy required to go any faster, the theory is correct.

The next question I posed was, can humans ever know everything?
Or is the aspiration to know all, an ardent exercise in dreaming?

The wise one looked at me and said, you will never perceive all,
For every day new questions are made, like stars after nightfall!

So an eternity of living, will never lead one to the final answer,
For despite my perpetuity, knowledge is still at its first chapter!