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