Your hand outstretched against my breast as we brake too fast:

My fist clenches just the way you hate it-

As I stare at the approaching distance.

‘Don’t do that’ you ask, so my grasp loosens.

I shift gaze and lean into you as best I can,

To tell you about gluons mediating forces between quarks.

You let me tell you that these gluons are inside you, inside me…

The fabric of the multiverses:

I tell you this will be the answer to everything,

Everything, I emphasise against your doubting,

Life, death, and every being.

I wonder how it explains love,

As you ‘Sydney’ park outside of Aldi,

And as we stack bags into the boot,

I brush my hand against your little finger,

And I still think you might hate me,

As I undertake to trust you soon.

But soon has now been decades coming,

And I keep trying agains the odds.

So now with this soft touch of your finger,

As it lingers still I reckon I feel

The exchange of a very strong force:

Love gluons between quarks,

Between you and me,

In an Aldi car park.