I carry the light of a dead star in my pocket
an ancient sun
one of the first to will itself out of dust and darkness
i meet a man
who carries his spark
in his bottom left molar
we drink tea on the banks of the Nile
and trade memories of our stars
and wish one another well
until we meet again
in a great wheel of metal and ceramic
spinning high above a cloudy world
i meet a being with no eyes and twelve tentacles
who carries its splendor
in the lining of its fourth stomach
and another of shining vapor and song
whose radiance creates a rainbow in its heart
we trade memories of our stars
and wish one another well
until we meet again
beneath a sky of rich purple and red
i sit on the high slope of an elderly mountain
worn smooth
whose brightness is buried deep among its stony roots
we trade memories of our stars
and wish one another well
until we meet again
and in the final dark
when the stars are no more
and the galaxies have fallen to dust
we will gather
and the last embers of suns long dead
scraps of hope against the night
will come together
and it will all
begin
again
— Rebecca Buchanan
Rebecca Buchanan is the editor of the Pagan literary ezine, Eternal Haunted Summer. She has worked previously published, or forthcoming, in Bards and Sages Quarterly, Faerie Magazine, The Future Fire, Gingerbread House, Luna Station Quarterly, New Realm, and other venues.
Editor’s Notes: The lines “beneath a sky of rich purple and red/i sit on the high slope of an elderly mountain” stimulated a pairing with The North American Nebula, NGC 7000. It is one of the well-known nebulae in Cygnus. This image is from Cygnus’s Wall, a term for the “Mexico and Central America part” of the North America Nebula. The Cygnus Wall exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula.