The narrative voice of the poem acts as an observer and interpreter of the cosmos. Grounded in both scientific knowledge and poetic imagination, the speaker translates the eerie emptiness of space into a discernible musical score. The speaker expresses a cynical view of mankind's attempts to conquer space but ultimately finds a comforting philosophical hope in the enduring nature of the universe.

An engineer who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. His scientific career instills a deep fascination with space and the cosmos in his daughter. His recent passing functions as an unspoken catalyst for the poem, inspiring the speaker's reflections on the conservation of mass and the comforting idea that nothing in the universe truly disappears.

A teacher who raises her daughter in California alongside her engineer husband. Her strong Christian beliefs provide a religious foundation that frequently pulls against the scientific rationality of her husband's work. This tension between faith and science heavily influences the dualities present in her daughter's worldview.

The collective human race, viewed from a cosmic perspective. Humanity attempts to tame space using rockets described as tin cans and by planting flags on dry planets. The speaker views these efforts as arrogant and ultimately meaningless against the massive scale of the universe.