A Poem For Saturday

By Adam Frank

Published April 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM CDT

The Human Route

Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed, that is human.

When you are born, where do you come from?

When you die, where do you go?

Life is like a floating cloud, which disappears.

The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.

Life and Death, coming and going, are also that.

But there is one thing that always remains clear.

It is pure and clear,

Not depending on life and death.

Then what is the one pure and clear thing.

-Traditional Chinese Poem

From One Hundred Days Of Solitude, by Jane Dobisz

Science & Health

Adam Frank

Adam Frank was a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. A professor at the University of Rochester, Frank is a theoretical/computational astrophysicist and currently heads a research group developing supercomputer code to study the formation and death of stars. Frank's research has also explored the evolution of newly born planets and the structure of clouds in the interstellar medium. Recently, he has begun work in the fields of astrobiology and network theory/data science. Frank also holds a joint appointment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a Department of Energy fusion lab.

See stories by Adam Frank

A Poem For Saturday

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