Inky dark night. Jewels in the heavens sparkle like diamonds in a necklace. The Seven Sisters wink seductively while trying to sit in Cassiopeia’s Chair. Orion chases Ursa Major and her cub when he stops to slake his thirst from the Big Dipper. Great Leo butts’ heads with fleecy Aries. Sirius the Dog Star is the glowing eye of Canis Major as she helps Orion track Ursa. Faint Polaris guides mariners to home port from the tail of the Little Dipper.
A new moon
A black palette rules the sky
Stars come out to play
Distant galaxies show off their faint pinprick lights through holes in the black curtain. Sagittarius points the way to the center of the Milky Way where star forming clusters give birth to baby stars from their nurseries and old stars blow up and die. In the middle lie the supermassive black holes that swallow all light in to their mighty maws and bend time and gravity to their will.
Are they our home
We are formed from their dust
Will we return.
A difficult form to me and yet you did it seamlessly, engaging me in the story of the constellations and the starry night with both humor and deep. So very nicely done!
Thank you Carol. Very fun piece to write
Thank you Carol. One of the poems I really enjoyed writing for the half-marathon. I am a Trekkie and have always been fascinated by astronomy.
Wonderful!
Thank you Caitlin. I am an astronomy buff and this was enjoyable piece to write.
Oliver
I really love the way you had the constellations interacting! This was a great poem and really nice to just picture.