Let There Always Be Light
(Searching for Dark Matter) For this we go out dark nights, searching For the dimmest stars, For signs of unseen things: To weigh us down. To stop the universe From rushing on and on Into its own beyond Till it exhausts itself and lies down cold, Its last star going out. Whatever they turn out to be, Let there be swarms of them, Enough for immortality, Always a star where we can warm ourselves. Let there even be enough to bring it back From its own edges, To bring us all so close that we ignite The bright spark of resurrection.
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Interpretation & Commentary
1.
Astronomical longing as a metaphor
The poem starts with stargazing—“searching / For the dimmest stars, / For signs of unseen things.” On the surface, it’s about scientists hunting for dark matter. But on a deeper level, it reflects a human yearning: we peer into the void, hoping to uncover hidden forces that give meaning and structure to our lives.
2.
Fear of cosmic silence
Lines like “To weigh us down. To stop the universe… Till it exhausts itself and lies down cold” express existential dread—the universe’s eventual heat death. Elson asks: can even the universe tire out? Are we alone in its vast emptiness, hurtling toward oblivion?
3.
Hope in abundance
“Whatever they turn out to be, / Let there be swarms of them, / Enough for immortality” – here, dark matter becomes a symbol of potential salvation. We hope there’s so much of it that there’s always some place to “warm ourselves” under a glowing star—a refuge against cosmic indifference.
4.
Resurrection and renewal
The most powerful image: “Let there even be enough to bring it back / From its own edges… The bright spark of resurrection.” It’s a reversal of entropy—dark matter not just sustaining but reviving. It’s a wish for revival that goes beyond stars—resurrecting the universe itself, maybe even us.
Key Themes
- Scientific awe meets philosophical wonder: The poem blends astrophysical curiosity with metaphysical longing. Dark matter becomes a symbol for hope.
- Cosmic mortality: There’s a palpable fear of meaninglessness if the universe ends, but also the audacity to imagine renewal.
- Spiritual resonance: It’s less about data and more about the human drive to believe in something unseen that gives us meaning.
Why it matters
Rebecca Elson was both an astronomer and a poet. Her unique perspective lets her weave scientific reality (the hunt for dark matter) with spiritual yearning (resurrection, immortality) in a single breath. It feels like science becomes prayer.
Final thoughts
Elson doesn’t just want us to understand dark matter—she wants us to long for it. To care about something invisible yet fundamental. The poem quietly dares: maybe the universe’s hidden substance is also the substance of our hope.
I.
THE POEM’S CONCEPT, PHILOSOPHICALLY SPEAKING
Elson’s poem is about:
- Dark matter as the unknown substance holding the universe together.
- The fear of universal death via entropy and heat death.
- A wish for cosmic abundance, not just survival, but resurrection.
- Human participation in the act of understanding and preserving reality.
In other words, it’s a poetic blend of existentialism, cosmic pessimism, Platonic idealism, and a pinch of theodicy. Yes, all of it, in 20 lines. She’s ambitious like that.
II.
COMPARISONS IN PHILOSOPHY
1.
Pascal’s Wager & Cosmic Humility
Blaise Pascal, in his Pensées, writes of the “infinite spaces” that terrify him—he’s gripped by the sheer indifference of the cosmos. Elson, however, counters that terror by pleading for hope within those infinite spaces. Where Pascal is paralyzed by the void, Elson walks into it with a telescope and a hopeful shrug.
Pascal: “The silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.”
Elson: “Let there be enough to bring [the universe] back… the bright spark of resurrection.”
Big difference in vibes. One hides from the abyss. The other sends it a love letter.
2.
Nietzsche and the Eternal Return
Elson’s poem references entropy, death, and cosmic exhaustion—but she wishes for resurrection, not repetition. Compare that to Nietzsche’s Eternal Return—the idea that life, and the universe, endlessly recycles itself.
But Elson doesn’t accept repetition; she yearns for transcendence. Nietzsche wants you to say “yes” to living the same life forever. Elson wants the universe to get a second chance better than the first.
So:
Nietzsche: “Love your fate, it comes back around.”
Elson: “Actually, could fate bring more light next time? Maybe not die so fast?”
3.
Spinoza and Substance
In Spinoza’s monism, all reality is one substance: God or Nature. It’s indivisible, self-caused, and infinite. Elson’s fascination with dark matter as the invisible scaffold of the cosmos echoes Spinoza’s idea of a hidden substance behind appearances.
Her poetic wish that “there be swarms of them…enough for immortality” resembles Spinoza’s idea of divine plenitude—an abundance of being that sustains everything.
But where Spinoza’s substance is rational and necessary, Elson’s dark matter is mysterious and fragile. Spinoza is geometry; Elson is vulnerability.
4.
Heidegger and the Question of Being
Martin Heidegger, the rain cloud of 20th-century thought, talks about being-toward-death and Dasein (human existence as awareness of being). Elson’s poem hums with the Heideggerian theme of confronting non-being (cosmic death) while reaching for meaning.
But instead of Heidegger’s brooding alienation, Elson offers a scientifically flavored faith: maybe meaning is out there in the unseen, unmeasured parts of the cosmos. Maybe existence is scaffolded by mystery.
So Elson takes Heidegger’s question—why is there something rather than nothing?—and turns it into:
Can we find enough of that something to make the nothing go away?
5.
Teilhard de Chardin & the Omega Point
Oh boy. Teilhard, the Catholic mystic and paleontologist, imagined the Omega Point: a final convergence of consciousness, science, and spirit at the end of time. Elson, though not religious, dreams of something similar: the idea that the universe might revive itself through its hidden contents.
Both are whispering: maybe the cosmos isn’t winding down—maybe it’s winding up toward something miraculous.
III.
EXAMPLES FROM LITERATURE & ART
- Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics: Fictional tales that use astrophysical phenomena as metaphors for love, loss, and meaning. Elson would fit right in.
- Rainer Maria Rilke: “You must give birth to your images.” Elson is birthing images of unseen matter as faith made visible.
- Carl Sagan, oddly enough: “We are a way for the universe to know itself.” Elson: “We are a way for the universe to save itself, maybe.”
IV.
SO WHAT?
The poem takes dark matter—a literal scientific mystery—and turns it into a metaphysical lifeline. In doing so, it brushes shoulders with centuries of philosophy:
- The invisible as necessary (Plato, Spinoza)
- The cosmos as a stage for existential drama (Pascal, Heidegger)
- The yearning for transcendence over finality (Nietzsche, Teilhard)
It’s a scientific prayer written by someone who lived in the tension between cold data and warm hope. A cosmic whisper: maybe the universe hasn’t given up on us yet.
