Hammock-based study of celestial mechanics

One of my favorite pastimes is to lay in a hammock at sunset, 
and late into the night, 
under a clear sky and a crescent moon, 
and imagine the celestial mechanics of the solar system.

I imagine how it must *feel* to be this enormous Earth, 
spinning backwards, with a slow wobble, at 1000 miles per hour 
while hurtling forward 60,000 miles per hour 
pulled by the gravity of a sun 92 million miles away,  
All this action goes on in seeming slow motion 
by the 7 billion humans scurrying over the surface, 
never suspecting that their earth is only a virus 
in the eye of a newt on a log in a bog 
on another planet in another solar system...

Earth doesn't know this, couldn't know this; 
it just keeps blasting through space, 
in this captive dance, 
with perfect precision, 
for billions of years...

Just when I almost get that feeling, 
I lose it, or I fall asleep. 
But mostly, I fall asleep before I can imagine that far.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009. Peace, love.