They say that Betelgeuse is dying, growing dim,
A variable star gasping,
In great shining sweeps,
Reaching out into the dark.
A variable star gasping,
Tilting into supernova,
Reaching out into the dark,
A fraction of a second to collapse.
Tilting into supernova,
Months to brighten, years to fade,
A fraction of a second to collapse,
(But what is time to a star?)
Months to brighten, years to fade,
And time undoes us all,
(But what is time to a star?)
Even stars will lose their balance and be lost.
And time undoes us all,
—Though we cannot be created or destroyed,
Even stars will lose their balance and be lost,
The building blocks are borrowed.
—Though we cannot be created or destroyed,
How then can a star die?
The building blocks are borrowed,
Until broken down, chimerical, and shaped again.
How then can a star die?
Merely constant change of form, without creation or destruction,
Until broken down, chimerical, and shaped again.
They say that Betelgeuse is dying, growing dim.
A variable star gasping,
In great shining sweeps,
Reaching out into the dark.
A variable star gasping,
Tilting into supernova,
Reaching out into the dark,
A fraction of a second to collapse.
Tilting into supernova,
Months to brighten, years to fade,
A fraction of a second to collapse,
(But what is time to a star?)
Months to brighten, years to fade,
And time undoes us all,
(But what is time to a star?)
Even stars will lose their balance and be lost.
And time undoes us all,
—Though we cannot be created or destroyed,
Even stars will lose their balance and be lost,
The building blocks are borrowed.
—Though we cannot be created or destroyed,
How then can a star die?
The building blocks are borrowed,
Until broken down, chimerical, and shaped again.
How then can a star die?
Merely constant change of form, without creation or destruction,
Until broken down, chimerical, and shaped again.
They say that Betelgeuse is dying, growing dim.
Esme Sammons is a drama and science teacher in Eastern MA. She is unpublished.