A new poem by Pōneke-based writer Zac Hing.

Misconception

Once, you asked me
to explain entropy;
instead I told you
about heat death,
a related, but different
concept:

At some point
all the energy in the universe
will dissipate
and after that nothing—
nothing—
will happen,
ever.

You took to saying
you would ‘love me
until entropy.’
I didn’t have the heart
to correct your misconception,
clearly a fault
of my own
explanatory
power.

I wonder—

What if I had told you
that entropy cannot
be equated
with heat death,
which is only
its logical
and final
outcome?

What if I had told you
that entropy
is actually
the active process
causing
everything,
and everyone,
everywhere,

to always fall,

fall,

fall,

apart?

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed.