Ode to the Stars
You’re there every night
My fleeting life is nothing to your
timeless vigilant being.
How many have there been like me
who look to you for guidance?
And for how many have you complied?
How many lovers have you crossed?
How many other Romeos have taken poison
some with their backs to the Earth but
their minds with you in the Heavens
and your golden shine hurtling through the Maine pines.
Others in the snow, icy wind cutting their bodies
find themselves lost in your endless labyrinth
When I gaze at you in that black abyss,
the sparkling eyes of Tartarus
You transport me away from my
pitiful, pointless existence
providing a reminder that
NOTHING IS PERMANENT
even you
sentinels watching over me in the dark
always there
until you’re not
Your death is beautiful, explosively mirroring
the life you led
Why were you here?
To provoke my human flaws, my jealousy?
You celestial creatures why must you taunt me! Torture me!
And yet–
I find solace in this pain
As your romantic luster floods my retinas,
faced with my own mortality
All I feel is peace, tranquility
Freedom
Not even the valiant sun
Rising in your exile
Can take the luminosity from me
A gleam forever burned into my psyche
Reflections Literary Magazine 