Dream of a Shadow

My world was jolted by two shadow images: one, thrilling, the other terrifying.  After a years-long effort—with 200 other scientists—we made the first image of a black hole, its shadow of no return.  Then I fell into debilitating pain. A deadly shadow blot appeared on an MRI of my spine.  Faced with emergency surgery and no assurance of success, I sought comfort in memory images from the past and, from collaborative work that engrossed me: images of the whole visible universe could be stored in light circling a black hole.  It was a universal memory. An experimental back and forth between the innermost-personal and the astronomical, where shadows and consolation cross.