Yes, it’s another round of Silver Threading and Ronovan Writes‘s Writers Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge! School has been keeping me extra busy and exhausted these days, so I figured now would be a good time to seek inspiration and recharge my creative energy!
The theme for this week was mystery, and the quote I chose is another one from the brilliant mind of Albert Einstein:
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. – Albert Einstein
This lovely quote pretty much sums up why I’m so fascinated by both art and science, so for this challenge, I decided to write a free-verse poem inspired as much by Einstein’s words as by my own experience as an “artistic scientist”. Enjoy!
Artistic Scientist
With the mind of a scientist
And the heart of an artist,
I look around me
And I can’t help but wonder:
How does a world
That we’ve known for so long
Still have so many mysteries
Yet to be solved?
Why are we so fascinated
By the world we live in?
What drives humans to discover,
To learn, to know more?
How do the colors and shapes in nature,
In the land and the sea and the sky,
Inspire us to create
Such beautiful works of art?
How do so many animals
That seem so simple
Have such perfect designs
And sharpened instincts?
How does a dog or a cat
Know exactly when to comfort you,
To nuzzle up against you,
Like it senses the pain in your heart?
Why are we always seeking happiness
Yet unable to live without suffering?
Why do dreams so often show you
Secrets you didn’t know you had?
What’s swimming deep down
In the depths of our oceans?
What’s lurking out there
In the great space beyond?
Is there a higher power
Somewhere far above us,
Existing just beyond the boundaries
Of our known limited world?
And how can we humans
Think ourselves so grand
While being mere specks
In the vastness of the Universe?
Mind of a scientist,
Heart of an artist,
I see so many questions
Still longing for answers,
And I smile as I think how
The world is full of
Beautiful discoveries
Just waiting to be made.
So don’t shy away
From the wonders of the world.
Marvel at the mysteries of life,
Lest your eyes become dim,
And you someday find yourself
As good as dead.
Embrace that artistic scientist in you,
And you’ll discover that
In true science and true art,
The most beautiful
Experience we can have
Is the mysterious.
I hope you enjoyed my poem! Be sure to join the Writers Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge and share your quote-inspired works! Thanks for reading!
Writers Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge is a weekly blogging event by Colleen Chesebro of Silver Threading in collaboration with Ronovan Hester of Ronovan Writes. Be sure to check out both these authors’ blogs for your weekly dose of inspiration! Happy writing!
To live in both the world of art and the world of science is highly impressive, I would too if I wasn’t mathlexic. 😀
A quote on writing I like is from Truman Capote, given during a Paris Review interview. I found it very illuminating when I first read it in college.
“The test of whether or not a writer has divined the natural shape of his story is just this: after reading it, can you imagine it differently, or does it silence your imagination and seem to you absolute and final? As an orange is final. As an orange is something nature has made just right.”
I strive to make my writing as perfect as an orange. 🙂
Mathlexic, hehe. We can’t all have a head for numbers, I’m afraid!
That’s a great quote! To make writing as perfect and final as an orange must be a satisfying challenge. Good luck to you! Thanks for reading! 🙂