The universe may contain only a single particle.
The separateness of space and the distinctions of qualities
create the appearance of multiplicity.

He approached the gypsy encampment
among the reeds along a bay
which was being formed by swiftly
sliding continents.

His camper was two-tone,
its equator - a band of mysterious symbols
I recalled having seen before.
When I asked what they were,
smiling, he replied, “Feynman diagrams,”
and then, thumb to his chest,
“I’m Feynman”.

After following the diagrammed tracings
of scattering paths,
to be read from the right to the left,
from the end to beginning,
it became clear.

One begins moving in
from beyond the edges of time.
One travels the infinite paths of all our particular lives
That which is not annihilated persists
to begin again.

He left the encampment among the reeds
to travel infinite paths
all meeting beyond the edges
of what is called life.