The Beautiful and Magnificent Theory of Everything

I was watching TV
The other night
When I came across
A program on NOVA
Marvelously entitled
The Theory of Everything
That purported to explain
The mystery of
String Theory
In layman's terms
Of course
I was intrigued

String Theory
In case you do not know
Just happens to be
The underlying theory
Of Quantum physics
That purports to explain
How the laws of Nature
Operate on the sub-atomic level

This is the theory that
So eluded Albert Einstein
As he pursued his great dream
Of finding a unified theory of everything
One set of beautiful and elegant
Mathematical equations that would
Ultimately explain the natural world as
We all perceive it to be

Unfortunately
Albert Einstein
Passed away
Before he could
Figure it all out
But fortunately
For the rest of us
Two dedicated scientists
Named John Schwarz and Joel Scherk
(Standing,to be sure
On the giant shoulders of
Scores of other forerunner scholars
Too numerous to mention here)
Came to Einstein’s rescue
By proving the validity of
String Theory as the ultimate
Explanation for how matter
Behaves at the sub-atomic level

As if this achievement wasn’t enough
Messieurs Schwarz and Scherk
Were able to solve
The mathematical equations
To prove that String Theory
Really did have legs

I do not pretend to understand it all
But I sure can appreciate
The underlying beauty and logic
Of it all
One beautiful and elegant
Theory of Everything

Some skeptics continue to say
So what?
What earthly good does it do
For humans to understand
How to marry
Relativity with Quantum physics
Even if the grand theory
Proposed by Schwarz and Scherk
Can ultimately be proven
To be true?
And what about
God’s role in all of this?
Does the Theory of Everything
Prove once and for all
That God is dead?
Wasn’t it Stephen Hawkins
Himself who said that
All that was needed to replace God
Was the Theory of Gravity?

I do not see it that way
Rather than replacing God
I believe that
The Theory of Everything
Restores God to his rightful role as
The grand conductor
Of the great cosmic symphony
That is the underlying basis for the
Very existence of String Theory itself

I remember also
Two other great scientists
By the names of Dr. Carl Sagan
(Author of the book and
TV series Cosmos)
And Dr. Jacob Bronowski
(HBO’s host of the popular TV Series
Called The Ascent of Man)
Two wonderful public interpreters
Of the wonders of scientific discovery
Both of whom sadly died before
The Grand Theory of Everything
Could be considered to be
Proven scientifically
But how they would have loved it!

If there is any justice
Left in creation
Albert Einstein
Carl Sagan
And Jacob Bronowski
Must all have front row seats
To the greatest
Cosmic concert of all time
So as to enable them
And all of the rest of us
To finally be able to hear
With crystal clear clarity
What the great
Greek philosopher
Pythagoras
Once called
The Magical Music of the Spheres

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2011