Monday, 13 September 2010

the brass monkey's idea of hell

i.m.
Aldous Huxley and Jacob Bronowski


fire is earth
fire is air
fire is water
fire is fire

and that is
in 12 words
the essence
of fire

except to note
in passing
that fire was never alive
and well (or even dead)
down there in hell, and
not one speck of ash was ever found
in that non-existent place

fire is the purifier
the creator
the bringer of light
and life

fire is energy
unlike absolute zero
which is a dead
nothingness
and which is
whichever way you want look at it
only to be found in
a cold place beyond bitterest cold
colder than the brass monkey's proverbial balls
created in the roaring fire
of 1942
and then fallen without hope

the demi-god Prometheus knew it,
and today it's true
that we all do too,

hell is a cold dead and dismal place
where one single atom
(or one single sub-atomic particle)
if it could exist
wouldn't
and doesn't

no. 273 on kelvin street

in downtown
deathsville
is an address
you wouldn't want to know

it's kind of
below
here,
and
that kind of
below bit,
at least that little bit,
is a fragment of an un-
intended truth
a spark of light
escaped

in a manner of speaking
said the brass monkey

to himself

on examining his own reflection
_____
gw2010
image: Stanthorpe brass monkey (wiki-commons)

4 comments:

  1. As usual Poet - you have a little absence from my computer screen and then you pop back with a profound truth.

    Pop over and look at another of my friend Joan's poems, published on my blog today. What do you think of it?

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  2. Poet.. this is a glory of a string of words. I'm loving the rhythm if the science is a bit beyond me. Thankyou.

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  3. happy i found your blog... wish it'll run for long.

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  4. Thanks Weaver and Abludu. Gerry, the brass monkey science is sound (as far as anyone knows!).

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