Betelgeuse

What thread could be suspended
between these two points of light;
the seams of these worlds brought together
by a string of moments ad nauseam.

Mountains rise like waves;
crash into the earth-
peaks, valleys, ranges.
Life explodes in jubilation,
dancing in the rain;
collapses beneath its own weight,
pulls itself back up again.

A cloud of chaos still warm from the womb,
desperate for purchase,
finding order, each other, everything…
and then,
                nothing

except these stitches in the darkness,
that imperceptible sparks of cognition
will embrace as fire
firmament
stars
longing
future
and sorrow.
Never wrong or right,
merely eager to learn the light…

to quilt together existence from distance
and rest in relief as long as time permits.

Nova

Those eyes so oft transfixed
by only things they lorded over
would but on occasion dane
to dine on the extravagance above;
a passing glance at the moon,
a brief aside with the procession of stars,
the fascinating contemplations of ephemeral comets,
or the longing gaze into the darkness of an eclipse.

Long ago we could not afford this appreciation.
The stars were savage campfires,
the moon a wrathful god.
Comets would herald the end of man,
and an eclipse would end all else.
We could do no more than look away and feel safe
or look on in horror of what future we baited.

Stronger minds however were not sated,
and shackled those monsters to reality,
tearing them from the bosom of imagination,
so the world above could be a safer space to ruminate;
as long as we could make sense of the light and dark,
and still find comfort in the ground.

It was good,
until the darkness was swept away,
and all that is was light, be it day or night.
The sky, no more a blanket
but a bright bag zipped up tight
while we fought against it,
none of us ready to die.