A Romantic’s Manifesto for Science

This time, I post another poem that is strictly governed by form.

It is a stylistic device that is part of what I want to show with this experiment.

The way the lines are aligned is supposed to divide the poem into to parts.

Into darkness and night versus bright light.

The beautiful picture of a sunrise stands on the one side, on the other stands man and science.

On the one side stands ignorance and lack of knowledge, on the other there is science, the future and a brave new world.

In a way, even though it is much longer than the regular haiku – similar to my other haiku inspired poem “Through a Station of the Metro” – it does share one important characteristic with the Japanese short poem. It connects a picture of nature’s beauty with a complex concept: science.

But in the end, during the last lines, the two images merge, metaphorically and linguistically, making them one and whole again.

Nature and science are often seen as antagonists, but in a way, they are still connected and intertwined.

One cannot be without the other…

Felix Fuchs/The Eagle

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.                        A Romantic’s    Manifesto for Science

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.                               Waking up,    wearily,

.       Nudged into consciousness,    as if by a sudden thought

.                          You pull away,

.                                                   First the dark and cloudy veil

.                                                   That is

.                                                   The ignorance of Sleep,

.                            To then raise    a waking hand,

.                                                   To pull away a curtain –

.                                                   Substantial and real –

.                                 And catch    a glimpse

.                                      Of a golden-red,

.                                    Fresh and innocent,

.                                         Magnificent

.                                      And surprisingly,

.                                               Soft

.                                              Dawn