Starry Remainders

Remains of stars adorn the sky with nebulae aglow on high in stunning patterns that romance the wondering stargazer’s glance or simply senses mystify. While stellar orbs are born and die, do heavens strum a lullaby as all around the cosmos dance remains of stars? Might there be heard celestial sigh when Man seems deaf to wisdom’s cry and Mother Nature looks askance? Will humans waken from their trance? For in our earthly beings lie remains of stars. ~ Harley White * * * * * * * * * “We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands.” ~ Carl Sagan, Cosmos The poem is a rondeau ~ a short poem of fixed form, consisting of 13 lines (plus the phrase twice) on two rhymes and having the opening words or phrase used in two places as an unrhymed refrain. A planetary nebula is an expanding cloud of gas ejected from a star that is nearing the end of its life. The nebula glows because of ultraviolet radiation from the hot remnant star at its center. In only a few thousand years the nebula will dissipate into space. The central star will then gradually cool down, eventually becoming a white dwarf, the final stage of evolution for nearly all stars.