The View from Stephan’s Quintet: a Meditation

The James Webb telescope is capturing images of things said to be millions, even billions of light years away from earth.

It is transmitting images of the birth of stars beyond our galaxy,

Including Stephan’s Quintet, a group of five galaxies beyond our own. a mere 5,500 light years from earth.

How do we look from Stephan’s Quintet? 

How do our controversies, dramas, egos, and strife look from the Lobster Nebula?

How does the birth of a star compare with great power rivalries here on earth?

How does the possibility of millions or billions of planets in a myriad of galaxies compare with the crisis in the Straits of Hormuz?

What did Taylor Swift have for lunch?

Why isn’t my important call being returned?

Perhaps God is taking a stroll through Stephan’s Quintet,

Looking at us

And seeing two tiny beetles fighting to the death over a fallen leaf,

Snd both are losing.