Apophenia

How can we capture the night sky in our pages?
Flatten the stars in space and organize them into patterns,
its easier to name a constellation than an individual star.
So for years upon eons we’ve made the choice
to define the randomness using the shapes that we see
and ground ourselves against spaces vast.

In truth of course our understanding discards vast
swathes of space, too random to fit on these pages.
We can only record that which we already see,
that which immediately resolves itself into patterns.
But it is important to recognize the constellations to be our choice,
the shapes we draw entirely lacking input from the star.

Can a word be said to possess intent any more-so than a star?
While the possible thoughts to put in language are vast,
they could, any of them, be created absent our choice.
Walk the stacks of the Library of Babel, consider all the pages.
With no inherent meaning, no value save for the patterns
that no one ever put there, but that all of us still see.

But can more than that be said for anything we see?
Does a word carry more truth within itself than a star?
Information can only exist where we find, or create, patterns
to contain it. We build a structure within the unknowable, vast
spaces we ourselves occupy, a scaffold without which these pages
would carry no meaning, would not reflect my choice.

Structure that is necessary, but should not limit your choice.
As important as having that structure is making sure that you see
it clearly. See the impact it has on the words you commit to your pages.
See that sometimes you can get stuck orbiting around the same star.
Do not forget how many stars are at your disposal, their numbers vast,
outnumbered only by the ways to combine them into patterns.

When you become too tied up in existing patterns,
trapped between convention and the expansive nature of choice,
choose a brand new constellation to help you navigate the vast.
Remain unchained, but neither should you try to see
the entire sky at once, devoid of connections, star for star.
You will not run out of designs to name before you run out of pages.

With connections we build from the patterns we see,
we have no other choice to approach the distance to a star,
by giving them names we can wrangle what is vast into our pages.