The Big Bang

Maybe, the bright flash of light

and the feeling of ascent

that some people sense  

during a near-death event

is the universe when it was

just an opaque gleam

and electrons emitted photons

every way they beamed.

Maybe, memory of this

is encoded in our brains

from when we were particles

with no stars to name,

floating freely

as quark and lepton

through the molten hush

of the space-time dawn,

and it is this we glimpse

when death comes around

to shroud our eyes

in its origin.

Published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Anthology, 2026.