‘He was the Shelley of his age and more.’ — Gerard Bellaart

He invented an idiosyncratic ‘documentary/investigative poetry’ style … bringing a diverse range of environmental and political matters to public attention….

illustration: Elena Caldera

There has to be an afterlife, since matter

Can neither be created nor destroyed.

So, fear not, you’ll continue. According to physics

Your future presence is definitely required.

Look, here’s an atom once breathed by Socrates;

There’s another breathed by Van Gogh.

Inhale deeply, you can morph into a Neanderthal.

Every second new afterlives are kicking off.

The physicist, Ilya Prigognine, believed that atoms

Make conscious decisions in a conscious existence,

Enabling the atomic thoughts in your head that are you

To enjoy an immortal persistence.

His theory means that the ‘now’ can go on forever,

And that its swirling thought forms may linger –

So essential distillations of our substance can be saved

From their falling victim to fate’s fickle finger.

Does all this conceal a road-bump for atheists?

Could it hide an inconvenient truth?

Do invisible parts of our being possess

Encrypted secrets of eternal youth?

When Vincent van Gogh was studying the Milky Way

With candles perched on his hat

He meditated on each billion-year-old shining dot

Spinning through the starry night.

He believed that the heavens were our future destination

And he declared, “we take death to reach a star.”

Now that there’s stardust in every single cell of our body

More mystery is added to knowing who we are.

But in bereavement it’s a very great comfort

To those who are feeling dispossessed

To consider that those they’ve known who’ve died

Have simply changed their cosmic address.

Heathcote Williams