November 2018
Sarah White
sarahwhitepages@gmail.com
sarahwhitepages@gmail.com
Note: Any complaints about the accuracy of this narrative should be
addressed to the Astrophysicist I live with.
The Twins of Time
Astronaut Archer nears the speed of light
and doesn’t fully know what Einstein knew:
namely, that the faster he goes,
the more Time bends and slows
until he’s travelling in the Past
with respect to his twin sister,
Anna,
who lives under an earthly
kitchen clock that shows Time moving
with great speed by comparison
with Archer’s wristwatch. Thus,
she occupies her brother’s Future
while she tick-tocks briskly through
the phases of her life: courtship, marriage,
children,
children’s children, one of whom,
a granddaughter, Althea, is born
the same day Archer turns his capsule
around (out past the solar system border).
18 more years in Earth Time pass
before “USS Gemini” reenters
our atmosphere with flaming
friction.
Archer emerges—famous, rich,
rich and fit, far younger than he’d be
had he remained on this melancholy
planet.
Not his sister, but Althea,
his grandniece, comes to greet him.
While he was racing through the heavens,
thinking he and Anna had
all the Time in the world to reunite,
she knew the hands of her kitchen clock
would snatch her sooner, and therefore
trained
her granddaughter to be a friend
to the sad Traveler, never for a second
letting him forget a dear lost
sister.
© 2018 Sarah White
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