Ruthless

Do not forget that darkness drifts along

Forever and when galaxies are gone

The darkness, deepened, will go on . . . more long . . .

Than light could dream of.  Then no dawn

Will ever drag itself above that night.

No planet will experience the rise

Of morning.  There will never be the might

Of dayspring in recurrent solar skies

Again.  A cold more noir than Arctic doom,

More cold than an Antarctic midnight will

(Unbreathing like ten trillion corpses’ gloom)

Come blackly, freeze, and it will never spill.

  Eternal darkness suffered through the flame

   Of stars but light won’t come again to shame.

© Phillip Whidden