Starlong

This is the story of a real star The name of the star is Starlong In a far, far corner of the galaxy Starlong lives, even today Once upon a time Starlong was the Mother Of an entire solar system Consisting of many planets At first, there was nothing Because all the planets were cold and dark And barren Meaning, essentially, that Starlong was alone As such, Starlong was very sad And she began to crave The companionship of the planets Devoid of life, though they were And Starlong sent forth her powerful flames Bringing light and warmth to the planets For which they were grateful And responded, each in their own way On one of these planets, Protina Conditions were just right For living things to sprout And to spread Over time, these forms of life Developed into distinct types Of plant and animal life All of which pleased Starlong And so it was, that throughout the eras of time Living things grew and prospered And filled the planet, Protina With new and interesting forms of life Many of them lived in the great waters And many, also, in the lush, tropical regions While many things that creep, crawl, and fly Lived in the mountains, valleys, and deserts And all of these living things, plants and animals Brought pleasure and company to Starlong And Starlong was grateful for them And for their companionship Eventually, Starlong was thrilled by the development Of human beings on the planet Protina Although Starlong desired, not their worship But merely their lasting friendship And so these circumstances continued Even for many millennia of time And Starlong loved all life on Protina And all the dear planets as well One day, however, something awful happened Due to the great pollutions on the planet Protina Which were caused by the hand of man All forms of plant and animal life began to die And as they began to die, man, too, began to die And he began to look for solutions on other planets Planets that could sustain life In other solar systems Eventually, only a few humans remained However, they had developed the technology To build spaceships of an immense size To carry them beyond their own solar system And as these people began to leave Starlong began to weep Because she knew that once again She would be alone However, as Starlong wept Her weeping was heard by one person, Cassandra Who possessed a special ability To feel Starlong's moods Cassandra, you see, was a deeply empathetic soul With a very tender heart And a very powerful love For all living things And she was moved by the weeping of Starlong And she began to weep herself For she could not bear, even to the slightest degree The thought of Starlong, and her loneliness And of those inhabitants of Protina who survived But would soon be leaving Cassandra, alone, decided to remain Rather than leave Starlong alone Now Cassandra did what she could to survive To grow a garden To make a home And to save the few remaining plants and animals Because of Cassandra's devotion, and her humanity She was granted, by Starlong, with the ability To live as one immortal And to be free from all manner of pain and hurt And this would be true until Cassandra Looked upon the next human face When she would finish the remainder of her life And die as well Eventually, the plants and animals were all rejuvenated And they looked to Cassandra, as their daughter And to Protina, as their mother And to Starlong, as their friend.