The First Stars

Cherry

By onemorething

Tue, 20 Jul 2021
  • 1177 reads
8 comments
 

To see the first stars is to look

into the eyes of the most distant past -

here our older suns burn, 

once stellar embryos become 

the singular shine of the rotation of a cored mass.

Perhaps it is the faces of gods we think

we glimpse in the cosmic birth of hydrogen giants,

or white ladies who haunt the night sky, mouths full

of words that are spoken

only to the silence of the universe.

In the deepest darkness, they mutter,

from the slick of oil at the boundaries of time,

how they still bear witness to an army of light,

how they will always reach us. 

Formed from gravitational disintegration, 

amongst the tumult of molecular clouds, 

comprised of heat and reconstruction - where

we are something, are nothing, we are everything,

the elements of supernovas, 

the ancestors of change, the glimmer in our blood. 
 

 

Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_in_a_white_dress.jpg

 

Also on Twitter: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Robert_Hughes_-_Night_with_her_Train_of_Stars_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

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Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Wonderful poem Rachel, full of the mysteries of the oldest stars and what they mean to you. Very impressed by those lines:-

Perhaps it is in the faces of gods we think

we glimpse in the cosmic birth of hydrogen giants,

or white ladies who haunt the night sky, mouths full

of words that are spoken

only to the silence of the universe.

We can only really wonder at the great cosmos in our universe, not really understanding, but having our own imagined admiration for what's out there. I really like your theory in this great poem.

I adore the picture too, so beautiful.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks very much Jenny. I based it on the recent news about being able to see the first stars through the most powerful telescopes. I'm really glad you liked it. :)

 

Submitted by Mark Burrow on

Brilliantly done. Some great turns of phrase but I love "slick of oil at the boundaries of time". 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Mark :)

 

Submitted by marandina on

Just a stellar poem - one of your very best.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh, thank you! Stellar...ha, ha. Very happy you liked it. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

the other day there was a bit on Inside Science about moons forming. In the past, this would have meant nothing to me, but now when this sort of thing crops up, I wonder how you will write about it? 

"tumult of molecular clouds, 

comprised of heat and reconstruction"

reminds me of trying to stay awake in a Brian cox series. It was very interesting, and it helps me understand your poems a little, but he did not make me feel the whole universe is part of every single soul, like this

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you Di, what a wonderful comment. I like Brian Cox, but yes, he would probably disagree with my way of relating to things! :)