popkin16

I was commenting on a post over at

sga_squee, when the words "rage rage" popped into my head. I couldn't remember the rest of the poem, so I looked it up. It's Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. The full poem:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And I realized that the feel of the poem fit the Tauri so amazingly well.

I'm reminded of a section from Unaccepted by

xparrot:

Sometime it's frightening, how easily these people from Earth face down nightmares and conquer them. It's frightening, how they don't know how to be afraid, how they will rather fight than run, how they would rather betray all dignity and sacredness, and risk tearing their hearts and souls asunder, than give in and accept a painful inevitable.

There's also Elizabeth's words to Halling in 38 Minutes:

WEIR: Alright. You perceive death a certain way. I accept that. In fact, I respect that. But we do not prepare for death. We do everything we can to stave it off. That is who we are. (Transcripts from Gateworld)

I bet if Ronon or Teyla came across Dylan Thomas' poem, they'd be struck by the last two lines too.

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Of course, what I know about poetry couldn't fill half a page of notebook paper, so I very well could be interpreting the poem wrong. But to me it's basically saying don't give in to death, do not go "gentle into the good night". Fight with everything you've got to survive.

ETA: Ah, I'm not the first with this thought.

sfnutter wrote a "The Shrine" tag that uses two lines from the poem.