Warm, dark room, dark womb
the stars are hope and life.
How can dark be so rich?
Black so fertile?
Children whisper and giggle.
PAY ATTENTION!
No, attend please
to the wonders above you.
Stars, stars, planets and stars.
Oh, Mister Gradgrind,
even you must wonder
at these vast facts.
How dare they call it the plough?
Dave,Nice attention drawer to very obvious - but often ignored - facts...I think it`s the word spacethat makes them think it`s empty.
Don`t think you need the middle stanza. Keep wishing you could have got the actual millions (billions?) of actual stars into it for the fact -fixated Gradgrind.
It`s a good `un though (it would even `stand` poetically with just the first stanza and the last line).
'The Plough' - had a great meal there (in Hathersage FYI). You can really see the night sky without light pollution up there. I think I will read this out when we are sitting round our camp fire sharing stories, songs and verses, high on the hill, surrounded by tall trees (and farm machinery)
I too love the first verse - powerful stuff.
The juxtaposition of the vastness of the universe with little children and the temerity of man daring to compare a vast constellation to a puny machine is wonderful. I keep re-reading this. Thanks XX.
Love this Dave especially the first verse.
Nice one Mate
P.S.
Blue would be more fertile if Davey Moyes could have a little more funds!
really enjoyed this, great theme and a love of the topic is clear throughout, nicely put together
<Deleted User> (8943)
Wed 7th Mar 2012 09:06
Hmmm yes, sneaky one this, unless one has read Hard Times one will not get the significance of Mr Gradgrind; a plough in the sky indeed!
I'm in agreement with Ann about the fertility aspect and yet so much of space is cold and empty. It's our viewpoint from down here that makes it seem so full.
Nice one.
Ah, The Plough - so much better than the blinkin Big Dipper! I think it's rather nice that the image of the plough fits in well in fact, cos when I read about the "How can dark be so rich? Black so fertile?" I instantly thought of soil, and the earth's fertility. So many stars & planets are just called things 183XM1 nowadays! Maybe there are just too many - they should let poets name the stars!
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Lynn Dye
Wed 7th Mar 2012 23:30
I love this too, Dave. Good stuff.