by Sally Zakariya
We greet you with awe, with wonder,
Earendel, Morning Star, farthest star
we humans have yet glimpsed
through our roving lens in space,
older by far than ancient,
brighter and larger than our own
blazing sun, which bows
in deference to your greatness.
Gleaming blue in the galaxy Sunrise Arc,
you first shone your brilliant beams
across a young and growing universe
billions of years ago—light that reaches
our eyes here on earth at last.
A single star? A cluster? Perhaps
the black hole that survives
a dying star? Astronomers may
find out when they send a new,
more powerful eye in the sky
to plumb your stellar secrets.
What wonders they may discover.
You hint at cosmic possibilities—
existence beyond our fathoming,
a reality beyond our earthly grasp,
life beyond life.
Sally Zakariya’s poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her publications include Something Like a Life, Muslim Wife, The Unknowable Mystery of Other People, Personal Astronomy, and When You Escape. She edited and designed the poetry anthology Joys of the Table. She blogs at www.butdoesitrhyme.com.