Tonight the sky is infinite — horizon endless
expanding into voids within the voids
of nothing but a darkness friendless.
The pebble we call earth is helpless
to ferocious forces born from our ovoid
where sky was infinite — horizon endless
Tonight the solitude of space is thankless
a separating silence, a death devoid
of nothing but a darkness friendless.
To be alive, is this journey, a relentless
dredge of galaxies, of stars destroyed
a night were sky is infinite — horizon endless.
We never comprehend how the helpless
destiny of being left alone, deployed
were nothing but a darkness rests; friendless
until the very end our odyssey is aimless
beyond expansions open yet another point
where sky is infinite — horizon endless
and nothingness is darkness, friendless.
Picture by the Hubble telescope
Today I have a prompt about the the expanding universe and the big-bang theory at toads. I tried to write it as a Villanelle for Sarah at dVerse and will also link up to Poetry Pantry tomorrow.
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March 30, 2019
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Glittery iambics godlessly true — “horizons endless” fated to “darkness friendless.”
Space is too vast to comprehend.
Wow, that’s a big topic. I feel very small after reading that. The repetitions spiral out into that empty darkness.
A wonderful villanelle, with the repetition underlining the message. That infinite sky, that endless darkness. Wow.
The repetition of darkness, friendless drives home the immensity of space…
space is indeed incomprehensible. But I do not believe in the darkness, in the friendless end. I am an optimist to the end of the world.
I felt the helplessness in that expanding horizon. Specially like the villanelle form with this line:
a night were sky is infinite — horizon endless.
I love the quote from Dr Michelle Thaller, the NASA astronomer : “We are dead stars, looking back up at the sky.” And here we are….
There is an infinite sadness underlying your poem. I wonder, are we forever spinning in the void without friends or even reasons for being? I perceive that endless horizon too but for me it offers the possibility of expansion into something greater than our little selves.
helpless destiny of being left alone … that’s different than ‘free will”. I believe many chose to be alone. Sad poem.
The vastness of space is scary indeed. I particularly like your phrase, ‘The pebble we call earth’.
A villanelle is in itself a huge achievement of poetic thought presented in a construct, but choosing void as the rhyming sound goes beyond remarkable. The repetition is needful, given the topic, yet we hear the warnings without heeding them.
I agree with Kerry that a villanelle is in itself a huge achievement of poetic thought and I envy the way you’ve based one of the repeating rhymes on ‘void’ and how you’ve played with it and the different forms of ‘less’. I especially love ‘The pebble we call earth is helpless’.
We humans have learned too much and now find ourselves just a minute part of the universe rather than to live ignorant untroubled lives that were given to us…but we were not satisfied we wanted to know more!
Hi Bjorn,
I’m not sure, beyond emphasizing aimless, friendless void, what you are saying. But of that, you did well.
Suggestions:
1) darkness friendless –> friendless darkness
2) “ovoid” seemed a stretched effort of rhyme.
3) where sky was infinite –> IS infinite
Sabio I will consider your suggestion when I edit the villanelle…
A comment of the theme is simply the though of how vast and empty the university is … how small we are… and in the end lonely like lice huddling in a dead rat’s fur.
Well, at least the lice have each other. Smile. Thanx
BTW, the ” Notify me of new comments via email” option is turned off on this thread, in case you were interested. All that shows is “Notify me of new posts via email”, unless you are trying to trick people. LOL
This is absolutely gorgeous, Bjorn! ❤️ The repetition works so well to portray the unknown. I am in awe 😀
The repeat just drove home this feeling of shouting into a void, with echoes as the only response to the outpouring of emotion. A very friendless darkness indeed.
Oh, the “bigness,” of it all. Hard to get one’s head around…words without meaning, “darkness and infinite”, a lovely thoughtful poem.
Great feeling and images. I feel like such a pioneer. Hope we don’t fall off too soon!
Oh… your comments were closed… I loved the way you wrote about all the rules boiling down to the simple ones about the conscience
“until the very end our odyssey is aimless
beyond expansions open yet another point”
It makes good sense that thoughts expand into a void of nothingness
Intriguing Villanelle, Björn. Happy you dropped by my sumie Sunday today.
Much🏵💟🏵
My comments are open now, if you want to check back. Thanks!
Ooh, that is quite an alluring villanelle — the repetitions and this theme go so well together. I do feel the enormity of it all, of all that we do not know, through your gripping word pictures. The infinity and the endless horizon remind me of my childhood when I used to get scared looking at the night sky for long. There is such an intermix of melancholy and longing here, which I loved.
The darkness of the expanding universe, the smallness of we here on earth……you have captured this so well, Bjorn. A really interesting prompt which sent me off on my usual tangent of climate change.
All I could see in “darkness” were black cows 🙂
You have given words to the vastness of – well, of it all, really – and you have done that really, really well, here. The villanelle, with its (in this case) haunting repetition is a powerful poetic vehicle. You speak the truth here – though it is a hard truth. Nevertheless, it is what it is. A brilliant piece of writing, Bjorn.
Beautiful writing with its haunting repetition. Couldn’t help but think of this voyage we’re in, navigating within endless darkness and how important we think we are.
when you stare long and hard enough at the night sky, you can feel a sense of dread and insignificance, as if you are falling into an abyss. I do. Your poem reminds me of such emotions. 🙂
The universe is enormous. I do feel quite insignificant. I’ve just started reading (finished book one) of Cixin Liu’s The Three -Body Problem. Maybe we are friendless in this darkness. I think Stephen Hawking felt that way, too.
The last stanza squeezed my chest, especially after I saw the accompanying image (and excellent choice). It was like falling in all that endlessness, in the horizon (made of dark and bright) that never ends.
Emptiness beyond comprehension…hard to feel important in the face of that. (K)
In space no one can hear you scream.
I like poems like this… both the subject and the execution. My wife says I should’ve been an astrophysicist, but I can barely spell it!
Sometimes, during form prompts, I find myself counting lines and seeing if the poem adhered to the requested style instead of enjoying the poem for what it is. I hate that I get caught-up in pedantic nonsense like this, but my brain is weird like that.
You managed to subvert this, employing a style that made me forget about the form altogether, while still remaining true to the form. Nicely done.
Your poem reminds me how small and insignificant we are in this vast universe.
I feel a vast emptiness as I read your poem…
We are aware of the inexplicable vastness of this universe and seemingly pointless existence only when we look up at the sky and reflect on it. Most of the time we are running around feeling really important about ourselves
A haunting piece… I especially like how your repeating lines create the ending, bringing the horizon and darkness together.
You seem sad in this Björn disenchanted, removed, maybe discouraged. Wanted to give you a hug, telling you alright – not all darkness and friendless… but I do understand tge feelings like these that wrap round us at times… peace Björn! Not hands, but breath we hold as falls the night.
Bjorn, I love it when you tackle the endless sky. Have you seen the news about the new black hole? I am fascinated by what could beyond our eyes.
As powerful at second read.
Enchanting ♥️