Stars are birthed in clouds.
Stellar nurseries:
Helium, hydrogen, heat; collapse.
Ka-boom. Nascent stars scatter.
Pop pop pop: little lights populate
Our skies. Ideas illumine
The human map, pinpricks of light
In shadowed minds: starlight,
Enlightenment, Orion,
Ontology, Modernism,
The Milky Way. Constellations,
Philosophies chart courses
Across galactic oceans
And dark, moral seas.
Imagination: the distant bear, Ursa;
The Chippewa folk bear—
Both connect to creation.
Humankind aligned to stars
Since times primordial,
From fairy tales to sailor’s sails,
And stars, like people, grow old.
They are born, shine awhile,
Give light, warmth, aid life,
Then die, and vanish
In the stream of Time.
David MurphyOriginal Literature
