Frostiana

Robert Frost wrote a fair bit about stars, science, and religion. We sang a setting of his "Choose something like a star" on Sunday, so I've been reading a bit of him, which I haven't done since high school. Here's one:

Skeptic

Far star that tickles for me my sensitive plate
And fries a couple of ebon atoms white,
I don't believe I believe a thing you state.
I put no faith in the seeming facts of light.

I don't believe I believe you're the last in space,
I don't believe you're anywhere near the last,
I don't believe what makes you red in the face
Is after explosion going away so fast.

The universe may or may not be very immense.
As a matter of fact there are times when I am apt
To feel it close in tight against my sense
Like a caul in which I was born and am still wrapped.

There's much of Frost which I don't like, or disagree with, but I love that final image: the warm, close, embracing universe. He's not using it very positively here, it's suffocating, but so intimate, like hiding under the covers.