Study for Belief with Lines from “Star Trek: The Original Series”

?) Let every sentence begin: I have been grossly mistaken.

The stars are gone. Kirk: Kindly tell me what happened to the stars.

Kierkegaard shuttles past Reason to planet Absurd, a gas giant

without a detectable landing pad. He says, it’s the leap that matters.

We’re being pulled toward the center of the zone of darkness.

Kenosis required, emptying the self of self. His sky lit, mine blazes

black, an experimental physics. Doubt the gravity that repels, attracts.

Dark energy : Dark matter : Attempt to probe : Universe [Static].

Neil deGrasse Tyson: we are a speck on a speck on a speck

on a speck. Spock: Call it deep understanding.

I’m trying to compensate for loss Red Alert. [High-pitched tone]

of life support of coordinates of light of lift. The heart of the wise

inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Adrift

at a dextral spiral’s galactic edge, her loosely-wound arms

unwinding, her central bulge a black hole’s

guess. I divorce myself from fearmongers and god metaphors,

yet—

Apollo-alien, begging for adoration as he smites, smiles.

Child-alien, booming behind a blue face, all thunder-threat.

Amoeba-alien, sucking up starshine like an enormous vacuum.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.

Can this ship retract from a space hole, one that eats thrust?

I could write: ’Twas love that taught my mind to doubt, and love my doubts

increased. As we draw closer to the source, it grows stronger.

We grow weaker. We don’t know what we don’t know—

a critical failure. Call it deep understanding. I can’t course

correct after complete engine meltdown, fuel spent, clinging to cargo.

Zone of darkness or—? I’m getting telemetry on the bridge

pushing buttons, turning knobs, neon flash and whir,

wired to what? Shields up. Stage set or power source? I’m ionized negative,

charged with tiny circles bearing minus signs. What was it you sensed?

A touch of death. Feel haptic down halls, fuzzed in brain fog. How can I grant

what I don’t understand? Is it sinistral, this left-leaning, this waywardness?

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Transporters and communication systems—offline.

My warp core drained clear. How to bring back its blue pulse?

Or is it better, translucent? Ladder rungs removed. Stairs—

What was it you sensed? Astonishment—phaser-blasted.

Jammed turbolifts. Sealed conduits. Is up a place (I want to be