Figure D18 CONTINUUM

As we peer still deeper into space

The scholar reads a panoply of signs

That tell each epoch’s story, keeping pace

As we descend in darkness in the mines

Of ancient photons: see the spectral lines,

The LYMAN-ALPHA FOREST — as the light

Of young chaotic galaxies combines

With neutral hydrogen, we see the bright

Mad quasar shining through a billion years of night.