What are ye
abiding ingredient
in fractal mirrors?
What secrets fund
mental meander?
What makes sunrise
a cherished friend?
Where do souls
plug in? And why?
How waltz we
with amoeba and stars?
What stays when pass
this bag of bones
beyond the dust?
I am today’s host of dVerse‘ Quadrille Monday. I say:
Today’s challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a quadrille poem. If you’re new to dVerse or the quadrille, it’s simply a poem of 44 words (excluding the title.) You MUST use the word “abide” in your poem.
Tao Talk 
This is gorgeously rendered, Lisa. I especially like the question; “What makes sunrise a cherished friend?”💝
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The title made me think of Johann Strauss, Lisa, and a concert I attended on my birthday some years ago in Vienna, and 2001 A Space Odyssey. Fractals are interesting mathematically and shapewise – children are fascinated by them. So many questions in this poem, and I can’t answer any of them! Then again, I might have an idea about what makes sunrise a cherished friend.
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I was going for Waltzing Matilda on the title. Will you say more about Strauss connection? And 2001?? I’m sure you do have ideas about the sunrise 🙂 Thank you much, Kim.
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‘The Blue Danube’ is a well-known waltz by Strauss that was used in 2001 in two extended space travel sequences. I saw the film when it first came out and was amazed by the music and the way it was used in the film. Later, on a visit to Vienna for my birthday, I was treated to a 19th century concert (with all performers in costume, which also included ‘The Blue Danube’.
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I just went to youtube and recognized the tune. It would be so cool to experience that concert with all of the performers in costume and in Vienna no less. It must have been magical!
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Such impressive questions with an almost olde-worlde look at snowflakes – perhaps this is what passed through the mind of Wilson Bentley
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May be, Laura! Thank you for reading and your comment.
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The fractal symmetry in both Math and nature was the hottest topic when I did my PhD, and many of my friends studied that… it’s amazing how you can find such patterns, and I still remember the Mandelbrot set and how it worked with psychedelic music.
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Fractals are fascinating to the layman, but how much more fascinating they must be to physicists. What’s the gist (if there is one) on the Mandelbrot set and how it works with psychedelic music?
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I’m fascinated by fractals, Lisa. You pose so many big questions in so few words. All of them unanswerable like Kim said. But I think pondering them is a big part of what makes us human.
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Yes, indeed, Ingrid. I just don’t see snowflakes pondering us like we ponder them, but who knows… 🙂
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So many questions–age-old–and I agree the questioning and the curiosity is part of what makes us human. Fractals are fascinating.
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I love the form of this poem, slightly archaic and with a word order all its own. Yet you sling science and maths in there to bring us up to the present. The mix is original and entertaining!
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Many thanks, Jane.
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🙂
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You had me at “where do souls plug in, and why”. Metaphysics contends that we are a soul with a body, and that the soul “plugs in” at conception, with full knowledge of the length and machinations of the life to come. There are times when the soul abandons the body, and it blunders along soulless and clueless. Trump is an example.
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Oh Glenn, you had me half-laughing half-crying with that last part. Yes, he is an animated corpse. In the lecture series about Mother Night Pinkola-Estes talks about bodies where the soul has wandered off 😦
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I read just today in a poem that we all become the dusts of comets!
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Sounds better than a lot of alternatives 🙂
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Apparently looking at fractal patterns induces calmness. I love your questions, perhaps this is my favourite: “How waltz we
with amoeba and stars?” – from the smallest thing to the most glorious. What a span. And we are somewhere in the middle.
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Wonderful comment, Sarah. Indeed.
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Nice one, fractals and bag of bone make for interesting juxtaposition
Enjoyed the music video
Much💜love
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Thank you for your feedback, Gillena.
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All valid questions; the closer being the “it” of this piece, I think.
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Many thanks, Ron.
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I love how you brought fractals into it. Excellent. I really enjoyed this Lisa.
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Thanks much, Susan 🙂
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You know I love a poem of questions. So much mystery. (K)
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Yes, thank you.
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What secrets fund
mental meander?
Yes, very tiring in trying to contain a wandering mind not abiding by stated rules. Wonderful write Jade!
Hank
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Hank, thank you!
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Great poem Lisa… seems our memory may be all that lasts. Some with or some without!! Great question!
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Thank you very much.
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Lisa, this is amazing. I love the repeating patterns of fractals! I like how your questions prompt additional thoughts, as well. Very nice. ❤
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Thank you very much for your feedback. Glad you liked it 🙂
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Whenever I jump into this challenge I feel poetically inspired. ❤️
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🙂
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Fascinating questions Lisa – here we are ranging between amoeba and the stars – and what is that something beyond this bag of bones that remains? – somehow I think Roxy Music get close with that wonderful guitar solo.
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Many thanks, Peter. That song has a hold on me. It feels like I fall into perhaps a fractal dimension when I listen to it.
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Oh yeah, the repetition and the gritty solo speak fractals to me too.
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A beautiful poem Li. Very effecting
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Thank you, Sadje.
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You’re welcome 😉
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“Where do souls
plug in? And why?
How waltz we
with amoeba and stars?”
I wonder this constantly in the matters of ourselves and creation. So many questions, but very little if any answers. I love this poem, you delve into these topics very well and it’s mesmerizing. Amazing piece.
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Thanks, Lucy. By your writing I can tell you do a lot of thinking about these things.
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Nice! Some days I do feel like a bag of bones!
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🙂
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The snowflake acts as a good representation of fractal thought – mine at least, brief branches from the root thought which I abide only so long as the coming of the next. Oh look, Ken. There’s something shiny.
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LOL Works for me 🙂
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You had me at fractals, I’m seduced, wonderful stuff Lisa.
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I knew you’d connect with fractals. Thank you, Paul.
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There’s nothing like a frac 🙂
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All questions worth asking, and beautifully so, Lisa.”What makes sunrise a cherished friend?” said it all for me as touching the core of a beautiful mystery.
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Thank you very much, Dora.
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My pleasure 🙂
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the Asian mystics wrote of these patterns eons ago … our scientists are finally catching up!
Delightful reponse … your prompt has inspired amazingly profound creativity Lisa, well done!
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Glad the prompt tapped into creativity for sure. Thank you, Kate.
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a pleasure Lisa
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Profound pondering, indeed.
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Thanks, De.
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What a wonderful poem that got such fabulous comments that I’ve forgotten what I wanted to say (coz it’s all be said). I love how your mind works.
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Muah! Great comment, thank you, Dale.
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🙂 My pleasure!
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Where do souls plug in? That is a powerful question. I often ponder where we get our energy, I was once told we have negative and positive cables that connect us to each other and the universe.
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I have no reason to believe that isn’t so. Maybe one day we’ll find out…
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Love this “where do souls plug in? and why?” Great work. 🙂
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🙂 JP thanks. It’s fun stuff to ponder isn’t it.
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Good questions. Answer poem coming?
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If only! I guess it keeps things interesting… Thanks for reading, Jane.
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