Once In A While Poem by Harley White

Once in a while in cosmic time
like pyrotechnic pantomime
a massive Sol explodes in space
refashioning galactic face
plus dust of interstellar grime.

Such seemingly explosive clime
of luminosity sublime
is seen when we can track the trace
once in a while.

Yet supernova's midnight chime
we note in reasoned rondeau rhyme
long after it has taken place—
for light must heed its own sweet pace
in Einstein's constant paradigm—
once in a while.


Once in a while a starry blast
can recreate an astral past
as fireworks in spangled skies
belatedly meet human eyes
to be celestially recast.

Life starts and ends in cosmos vast
with supernovae, first to last,
say visionaries of the whys,
once in a while.

And yet we gaze through ceiling glassed;
regardless of the ‘facts' amassed
there's more than we can realize,
for death is not a star's demise;
to open mind we must hold fast,
once in a while.


Once in a while explosively
star system from its site breaks free
to spread through fan-like spray nouveau
its stellar stuff in outward flow
with building blocks of life's debris.

This rare event in imagery
reminds that anything could be
within infinity's tableau
once in a while.

So seldomly a sage may see
a path to true reality,
may question what we think we know
from earthly ways to cosmic show
beyond apparent apogee
once in a while…