The Absolute and Relative
Argue with repartee:
Ultimate One or Ground or Truth,
Or relativity?
Through the Hubble’s stupendous view,
Ancient galaxies flee—
The Relative accelerates
Into infinity.
But science cannot form the lens
For Relative to see.
The Absolute stands fixed in place
And holds the master key.
Peter Venable has been writing poetry for 50 years. He has been published in Windhover, Third Wednesday, Time of Singing, The Merton Seasonal, American Vendantist, The Anglican Theological Review, and others. He is a member of the Winston Salem Writers.
Unlike the images captured by the Hubble telescope, these lines do not stand up to examination.
The first two stanzas read somewhat awkwardly, though the third is practically gold. The subject matter is also well-chosen, using the Hubble’s work as a reference point from which to explore the relative merits and demerits of relativism and positivism. Despite occasional technical imprecision, well done.
‘Twas refreshing to see such an uncommon subject used for a poem, Pete; and equally refreshing to encounter a piece which genuinely provokes some sort of thought.
I agree with Archie that the first two stanzas could be better written; they make for slightly awkward music. Additionally (although it’s only a personal thing), I’ve never liked the idea of rhyming ’ty’ with ‘ee’. I realise that it’s accepted in poetry, but . . !
And I double-agree with Archie that the last stanza is “practically gold”. It’s pure poetry, Pete, in every poetic sense; including the content, which gives one the impression that the whole stanza might (with the omission of the word ‘but’) be extracted to stand as an aphorism in it’s own right. No mean feat!