Wednesday, June 25, 2008

To a Distant Unnamed Galaxy (NGC 4945)

ROWAN PUTS HIS WATER CUP
ON THE CATALOGUE
OF GALAXIES
IN WHICH YOU
FAR DOWN THE LIST
ON PAGE THREE
LIE AS BARE AS NUMBERS



when i found you
there
a filament
amid the absolute black
it took a while
to be convinced it was you

your three hundred billion suns
don't shine much
across seventy six million trillion miles
you could be mistaken
for a speck of fluff
on a lady's dark velvet jacket

others don't see
the beating heart
held within a chrysalis of ice
you seem disinterested
to those
who have not known you

but i have long pondered
your spiral form
and deduce
this is a trap set to seduce

you are drawing us in
drawing us all in
my mind is bent to you
i am in orbit
fit to please you
i don't intend to escape
the blended smoke
i draw into my nostrils
the creatures summoned here
are all under your command
for the pleasure of your nebula
is so impotent
i could spend my whole life
in its fantasy
and never look away