was an ultra-high-energy
cosmic ray detected
on October 15th, 1991
by the Fly's Eye camera
at the US Army Dugway
Proving Ground, in Utah.
As of 2023, it is the
highest-energy cosmic ray
ever observed. A single particle
with the energy equivalent
to a baseball falling toward
the centerfield fence
at fifty-six miles per hour.
Easy catch for the Say Hey Kid!.
When lower energy particles,
flung by the Sun’s stormy eruptions
collide with our atmospheric gases
they get pushed and sculpted
by Earth’s magnetic field.
The result is the shimmering
green and purple curtains
or cloven tongues of fire
of the Aurora Borealis
dancing above the polar sky.
The cosmic wind released
from the furnace of the sun
and Cassiopeia’s dying breath
spawn the cosmic gift,
the photons and nuclei,
the building blocks of flesh
and blood and bone.
Fish and fowl, frogs
and flowering trees;
butterflies sipping nectar.
God’s breath gave life
to the dust that became Adam,
the atoms of carbon, calcium,
iron and oxygen, themselves
the breath and ashes of stars.
When Jesus breathed
on the twelve disciples
he called it the Holy Spirit
and charged them to spread
the spirit in his name.
