Celestial Diamond Necklace Poem by Harley White

A huge diamond necklace in jewel store
adorns the heavens' bespangled attire;
yet lest I'm thought reckless with metaphor,
if into this epithet we inquire

‘twas scientists who bestowed upon it
that moniker to extol its allure,
for such a title seemed owed to befit
the gorgeousness of that cosmic couture.

In constellation Sagitta it lies,
or otherwise as the Arrow renowned,
a dim formation that's smallish in size
though back in Ptolemy's time it was found.

The bright ring bejeweled nebula shown,
misnamed planetary by gazers past,
has jets which have fueled the gem out-blown
from stars at the center in stages last.

Two stars, it seems, in orbit together,
so close that communal aura they share,
send out jet-streams of gases in tether
resembling rare diamonds for millionaire

by virtue of knots with brilliance agleam.
Although in death throes, they're dazzling the sky
with zillions of watts in each cosmic beam
around azure sphere that's glowing on high.

The gas clouds of red above and below,
in sequence at left and to right, derive
from jets that have sped in turbulent flow
away from the middle in dying dive,

while still the how and the when stay hidden
within the mystique of the great unknown,
at least as this rhyme I pen unbidden
in starry-eyed wonderment's lyric tone…

By dint of these peeks unveiled for mortals
that Hubble scope renders in stunning cast,
astronomy seeks to widen portals
for fathoming further the endless vast.