The dark is the ground. Not the enemy of light, not the absence of it — the ground beneath it, around it, before and after it. The universe was dark before we named it and will be darker still when we are gone. This is not pessimism. It is proportion.
Dark Ground
Between the stars there is more nothing than the mind can hold. The silences are more vast than the burning stars. Consciousness arrived late, briefly, and without being asked. Extinction will ultimately complete us as it has completed everything else — not as tragedy, but as conclusion. The dark does not require our absence to be itself. It simply continues.
The Light That Persists
And yet — the stars. Not one, not few. Billions upon billions, burning in every direction, across distances that dissolve all human scale. Matter pulled together ignites. This is what the universe does, constantly, without purpose or audience. The light is not consolation for the darkness. It is not evidence of meaning. But it is real, and it is everywhere, and proportion demands we say so.
Before and After
What preceded us was silence. What follows will be the same silence, unaware of the interruption. The cosmos does not know the word tragedy — that word is ours, and it will leave with us. The star does not shine for you. But it shines. Ceaselessly, in every direction. The dark is the ground. The light is what the ground keeps producing, indifferently, without end.
Without Witnesses
No one is watching. No meaning accrues. The darkness requires no argument — it simply continues. But so does the burning. Both permanent. Neither winning. This is the accurate picture, and accuracy is the only consolation worth keeping.