In Significance

A reflection on our place in the universe

In Significance


I’m merely one among many,
part of a fleeting mayfly dance,
unremarked and unremembered
when my three score and ten have passed.

A lifetime is barely a blink
on a world that circles a sun,
with billions of years behind it
and billions of years to come.

Earth’s only a small blue marble
in thrall to a yellowish star,
neither especially noted
in a far-flung galactic arm.

Sol’s one of two hundred billion,
just a drop in the Milky Way.
There may be a trillion planets
in a galaxy’s full array.

Our galaxy’s just a fragment
among trillions that fill the night,
eternally soaring outward
in sublime universal flight.

Trillions of trillions of planets,
how many where life can hold sway?
How many civilizations
where extraterrestrials pray?

I’m just a pin-point speck of dust,
and I’m lost in a vast expanse.
The fact that I exist at all
seems miraculous random chance.

A place in this cosmic wonder
I can claim because here I stand,
fully part of God’s creation,
though I’m less than a grain of sand.

Author's Note ▶︎

Astronomers have counted more than 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more than 2 trillion galaxies in the visible universe. The number of planets is more difficult to estimate, but it’s possible that it exceeds 10 to the 20th power (a one followed by 20 zeros). So, if even one in a trillion planets can support life, then the known universe contains millions of planets that could have a civilization similar to our own. And it seems certain that even more stars and planets lie beyond what’s visible to us.

If the thought of a universe with millions of alien worlds isn’t enough to make you feel insignificant, then consider this: Many cosmologists suggest that ours is not the only ‘big bang’ and that many universes may exist in an infinite array that they call the multiverse. However, they also say that it’s not possible to observe or interact with these other universes, so they may belong more in the realm of faith than of science.