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Tuesday 6 November 2012

My First Computer Program - and why God's not around much, these days.

There was a time 
a moment only,
no more than that...
I'd written my
first, earliest
original --
shall I go on? --
computer program
Draw a Man
and watched it run
(no help from me)
and draw a man --
not just a man,
the very man
that I had thought of
days before
the program was complete.
So now I thought
See, if you will,
what I can do!--
for I was God,
was master of
my universe,
the small world of
a yellow screen --
that could be green
or blue or red
with one small movement
of my hand. I could
control my uni-
verse, the man
was in my power
for I'd created him.

There must have been
another time,
a time before,
when I'd been God
and made my mark
(my very first),
pencilled or crayoned,
meaningless
unless/until
I gave it sense.

First turn at being 
the First Cause!

And was it just
like that for God?
He made the world,
the solar system,
couldn't stop;
went on to make
the Milky Way,
Andromeda,
The Sculptor,
Virgo, Ursa
Major and the rest?

And is He out there now?
Millions of light
years off, creating
galaxies?
Unstoppable?
So far away
they never will
be seen by us?

Is that why He
seems so remote
and not involved
with us these days?

14 comments:

Sabio Lantz said...

Fun
Conway's "Game of Life"
was one of my first programs.
There you can really see God:
apparently meaningful, beautiful patterns generated from simple meaning-devoid rules.
That was in Basic.
20 years later I did it in C++
this time I randomly created those basic initial rule settings and watched for 3 days as the machine discovered rules that created more beauty that other rules.
It would be eye-opening for theists to watch such creative work, but I doubt few would really understand.

Elephant's Child said...

It sounds a perfectly acceptable reason for his/her absence.

Brian Miller said...

nice...i remember some of my first programs on the commodore 64...all that work for a little block bouncing around...ha....i like how you turned this too and questioned us playing god in our own universes...very nicely done sir...truth...smiles

Mary said...

Dave, this is one of my favorite poems of yours. You have expressed, first of all, the joy of creation. I am watching my granddaughter 'create' on paper now, and what a joy it is when she makes something recognizable....and how proud she is. And yes, those early computer programs that seemed so complex at the time, but by today's standards are oh so simple..but what a joy to create. And then you have taken creation further, expanding it to God. And yes, I wonder too where He is....as he seems so distant from His creation sometime, as distant as we are from those first programs. I hope too He has not abandoned us as we have abandoned our first computer programs. I hope somehow we still bring Him joy...despite our failings.

kaykuala said...

Deep thoughts Dave! Yes, we marveled at what computers could do. It was then such a thrill and an education. In fact, that figures and images could be formed was just amazing. Very different from the mechanical and physical efforts at that time. Nicely!

Hank

Pearl said...

Perhaps. :-) I am willing to accept this as a possibility.

Pearl

Kass said...

Makes me think in all sorts of directions. Very nice.

Rachna Chhabria said...

Sweet poem, made me think that God has gone on a vacation where I am concerned ;)

Crafty Green Poet said...

Excellent poem and maybe God is too busy or maybe it's us that are too busy...

haricot said...

Each person became a god for his creation and the very God has no business any more,,,it's a little ironic, though I love this poem, Dave.

Cloudia said...

Because you have been handed the job for now!

Promethean. . .


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Dave King said...

Sabio
Still one of the best, The Game of Life!

The Elephant's Child
Quite!

Brian
Great days - even now I look back with fondness. Ah, such a shame that seat of the pants days are gone...

Mary
Thanks for this. I do appreciate all you have put into it, and agree totally. It was just a thought - I wonder what He/She/It is really up to!

Pearl
A warm welcome to you. that's the problem, isn't it: with Him/Her/It everything is a possibility!

Kass
The perfect way to think. Thanks for saying it.

Rachna
Yes, I do know what you mean.

Crafty Green Poet
Now there's a thought! Might well be.

haricot
Yes, anyway you look at it, there's irony. Thanks for your thoughts.

Cloudia
Exactly!


Ygraine said...

This made me think - very deeply - about how the Gods seem to have abandoned us in recent years.
And you have the possible explanation in a nutshell here Dave.
Very very inspirational :)

A Cuban In London said...

Sometimes I think that the biblical fable of God making the world in six days and resting on the seventh could have a note at the end reading: "Or viceversa".

Lovely read. Many thanks.

Greetings from London.