Moving Posts: Literati: Sestina-esque Poem during a Physical Chemistry Exam

I will be slowing moving my posts from my old blog so that they’re all in one place!

This entry was first published in my old blog on October 20, 2009, which I have now turned to private viewing.

***

I hunger for meaning.
Define for me the world
of numbers, of thinking, of knowing.
And let the answer not be the face of stone.
Tell me the reason that you see.

What better joy there is than knowing
and understanding the meaning
of numbers, of knowledge, of the world.
Because what we know in our hearts is as hard as stone.
It is the reason of what we see.

But is it beauty before me that I see?
It seems to be gray and dull like that of a stone.
Beyond this façade, do we find the meaning
of all the things we search for in this world?
Could we find comfort in knowing?

– bebbv, circa 2003

***

I actually did write this during a test. It’s sestina-esque because it’s unfinished, and only has 5 lines per stanza. I didn’t bother adding the three stanzas I’m missing. I thought, a poem about a physical chemistry exam can only be written during a physical chemistry exam.

One might ask why was I writing a poem then. Did I not have the answers? Actually, truth be told, I did have the answers. I aced the test when everyone failed. To be honest I did not think very hard for this test, the calculations just flowed out of my pen. Hence, the spare time to write a poem.

I barely know anything about physical chemistry now, or calculus. Isn’t that weird that there are things you understand so fully at moments in time that you don’t even have to think about it? I wish I can say that with my life.