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Ex Nihilo Is a Joke

“. . .it starts with an empty universe” —Stephen Fry, Cosmos, vii

An empty universe is paradox.
In such a boundless space there’d be no time.
Among all other blanks there’d be no clocks.
Eternity could not produce a chime.
This space would be more contradiction than
A paradox, a gallop lacking bounds,
And what could possibly measure the span
Of utter nothingness with want of sounds?
Eternity is quite another thing,
Though.  It is filled with God.  Because of him
Eternity exists.  Time is a ping
Because God fills the cosmos to the brim.
_Eternity is filled with God . . . but days
__And stars subsist because God spoke their blaze.

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Phillip Whidden is an American living in England who has been published in America, England, Scotland (and elsewhere) in book form, online, and in journals.  

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3 Responses

  1. James A. Tweedie

    Phillip,

    An “empty universe” is not only a paradox, it is an oxymoron.

    And, as you so artfully express, “Eternity is quite another thing . . . It is filled with God.”

    Thank you for sharing your well-framed thoughts.

    Reply
  2. Brian Yapko

    Thank you, Phillip, for this wonderful and inspiring sonnet. I especially like your closing thought — “Days/ and stars subsist because God spoke their blaze.” Your careful choice of “subsist” is wonderful, suggesting existence but firmly under God. And “spoke” as the action verb is also wonderful in the way it evokes Genesis and John — “in the beginning there was the Word…” Lastly, I particularly appreciate your firm rebuttal to Mr. Fry, whose zealous and condescending brand of atheism makes him, in my view, a uniquely unlovely person. Well done!

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      Not only that, Brian, but Stephen Fry also gave a false description of the rondeau redouble in his book, The Ode Less Travelled. And that led to an interesting exchange I had with an editor many years ago.

      Reply

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