Pure Science Poem by Charl JF Cilliers

In this corner of the galaxy
I look up into the night
between stars so old,
so far beyond my grasp,
dark ridges between light:
untold stellar nurseries that hold
hydrogen and dust so cold
it cannot escape the clasp
of gravity.
There in those vast
corners of galaxies atoms fold
in upon themselves as they grow in density
and speed and fuse into helium-bright
specks of light in empty space.

Five billion years ago the glow
I now see left those stars at the speed of light
to reach me only now
across such an emptiness.

And if a single star out there
were now to die, who would witness
its last breath of light,
who would see it leave a tiny trace
of darkness, one more dark empty space
unnoticed in the overwhelming night?