Empyrean Mice Poem by Harley White

A hickory dickory dock ballet
appears to be choreographed on high
as round two mice dance in cosmic display
amidst the grand cabaret in the sky

like hands of an astronomical clock
a merger eventual to foretell
of galaxy duo in mute tick-tock
far off from where we terrestrials dwell.

Some three hundred million light-years away
in Coma Berenices or her Hair,
the one constellation midst the array
that's named for a figure historic ere—

the queen Egyptian who offered her locks
as votive sacrifice, thereby to gain
a place immortal among heavens' flocks
within celestial immenseness to reign—

a pair of mice each with such lengthy tail,
so long that "The Mice" sobriquet they earned,
inhabit a lofty realm where prevail
all manner of wonders still undiscerned.

With rodent nickname because of its look,
it's termed NGC Four Six Seven Six
in Catalogue General New, the book
which classified objects deep-sky in mix.

These spiral galaxies nearly the same
have streams of substances flowing between,
each one having passed through the other's frame
with stellar tails captured in wide field scene,

appendages both curved, though one seems straight
by reason of seeing an edge-on view.
What else may appear in an altered state
deluding senses—if only we knew…

The patches of blue show lively cascade
of clustered young stars through gravity's spur,
with great tidal forces by contact made
in varied hits that will likely recur

perhaps over next billion years or so
until into one the two coalesce
to form a galactic ellipse tableau,
though who might glimpse it is anyone's guess

or whether there'll be a verser around
with urge to compose a lyric or two
about bright stars that will surely abound
long after our species has bid adieu.

At present, with humankind's earthbound sight
upon this planet's familiar veneer
where might still makes right and maddened delight,
contempt has been bred for many a year.

The wisdom of sages assists us not.
With shallow awareness we miss the heart.
Mistakes through the ages are soon forgot.
Good will's not enough but would be a start.

Meanwhile stargazers through telescopes peer
at cosmic arena's supernal cast
to stretch their vision beyond earthly sphere
and seek to fathom the fathomless vast.