<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="font-size: 22px;">But We Had Music</span><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Right this minute</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">across time zones and opinions</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">people are</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">making plans</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">making meals</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">making promises and poems</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">while</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">at the center of our galaxy</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a black hole with the mass of</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">four billion suns</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">screams its open-mouth kiss</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> of oblivion.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Someday it will swallow</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Euclid’s postulates and the Goldberg Variations,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">swallow calculus and Leaves of Grass.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I know this.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And still</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">when the constellation of starlings</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">flickers across the evening sky,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">it is enough</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to stand here</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">for an irrevocable minute</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> agape with wonder. </span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It is eternity.</span></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Maria Popova</span><br></div></body></html>