I. Hellfire
Could they hear the screams of the stars?
That night
When the fire-glow on the horizon
Was no longer
Just the sunset.
Could they hear the warning whispered in the heavens?
Those majestic scaly beasts
Necks arching to reach vibrant green leaves
Shining waxy in the moonlight,
Jaws creaking open
Revealing row after row
Of jagged pearly teeth.
No, they were deaf to the cries of the skies.
Because what prehistoric meat-eater
Could know the word meteor?
II. Aurora
Was there any creature watching when the sky used to dance?
The midnight black, smooth as oil paint
Lit by ghostly tendrils of electric lights
Swirling gracefully across the expanse of the universe.
The moon turned its full, pale face
To gaze on the celestial spectacle,
As the stars hummed a quiet tune–
And from within the cradle of the deep,
Borne by the roiling wine-dark seas–
Came the mournful cry
Of whalesong.
Their eyes gleam like emeralds and sapphires
In the reflected light of the heavens,
Barnacle burnished backs shining
As the seafoam breaks against silver flesh.
They are ancient witnesses
To the vast sea’s endless trance
As it peers at the sky’s celestial dance.
III. Sunrise
Have I told you of my liquid gold mornings?
The way the sunlight spilled
Through the cracks in the stone,
Illuminating the oily darkness to wake us from our slumber.
The soft caress of buttery dawn
Lovingly stroking our dirt-streaked faces,
Our primitive artwork.
Did Sol see in our scrawls of clay, future paintings by da Vinci, Monet?
Our little stick figures
Twirling along the rough rocks
Seemed so much more alive
In the luster of the morning glow.
And as that first blaze of light
Seeped into my ancient bones,
I couldn’t help but wonder
When the human race would truly wake
From its evolutionary slumber.
IV. Eclipse
Do you still remember the day of black sun
When the brightest light our world has yet known
Was shrouded in shadows?
Sol hid that day,
But do you remember the way
The other Stars shone like glistening droplets
Finally finding their light
At last graced by our sight
Spilled across the hazy gray sky?
Do you still remember–
Though it’s been so long
That it seems we’ve outlived the stars–
Do you remember that day
Under the pale wan light
Of countless cosmos
When the embers of your eyes
Glowed more fiercely
Than all the heavens combined?
When you took my hand in yours
Cradling it like a precious gem
And whispered words I never thought I’d hear–
Not in a million years.
V. Oblivion
Will we be witnesses of our own demise?
Or will the only spectators left
Be the bright stars and vast skies
On the day when Sol shudders
And finally dies.
Will human eyes graze
Against his furious red gaze
Swelling ever bigger on the horizon?
Fire-glow reflecting an ancient asteroid
From so many years past
When we were almost destroyed
But now,
Now Sol’s time is up
As his magnificence crumbles
And the stuff of a star is engulfed–
Swallowed and gone–
Dragged down by the same force
That holds the universe together.
Will we stand on mountaintops and skyscrapers, watching?
As the heavens bleed crimson and scarlet
As the sun sets one final time
On Earth’s present
Past
And future.
Or will we join the stars?
The vast universe
To look down with bated breath
As all we’ve ever known is consumed
In the scorching heart of our dying star.
Will we become the stuff of the heavens?
Will we find our way in the midnight
Between infinite galaxies of light,
Will we pull our roots from the Earth
And set out for the expanse of the future?
Yes, my child.
We will we go fearlessly to the skies
So the human spirit will never die.
