The Other Side of Stardust

A girl was walking through the night Afraid and all alone She sunk for moments of respite Upon a blackened stone. What flakes were these that sparkled bright And flurried in the breeze? What specks of gold did grace the night And rest upon the trees? Up from her perch she stumbled on Into the silent black But 'twas in vain, the specks were gone So then she foundered back. She found the stone on which she set All laid with dust around The stars of heav'n the earth had met And blanketed the ground. The stardust, now a handbreadth thick Had melted from the sky She saw a once sedate old crick With flames now floated by. She gathered stardust in her hand And held it by her face It hovered there, in ways unspanned Held up by empty space. Her face did glint with motes of gold Her wavy hair did gleam The stroke of twelve the townclock tolled, Around her shone a beam: She looked to see its molten source, The sun had joined them too; In place of burnished bronze its force Was emanating blue. With both her hands she caught the sun And held him firmly there She shook him gently just for fun And threw him in the air; "Oh, Sun, how come you left the sky To be a little ball? Wherefore from glory did you fly And now art pale and small?" Then said the sun, " The stars had left They had a merry time And all alone I felt bereft So moved to sweeter clime; Said he, "It was so cold and still Without my fellow stars, All scattered 'round upon this hill As far away as Mars; So here I came to be a ball Of bright electric blue My starry kin with wit appall And have a chat with you." "Oh, Sun, you do not understand! The day is black as night Now who will fill this darkened land With rays of warmth and light? "And what of you?" she asked the dust That sparkled at her feet. "Back to the sky I think you must Your twinkling forms repeat." "Now truth we see," quoth ev'ry star In one according rhyme, "Back to the sky we'll roam afar Until the end of time." Then said the sun, "Oh, now I see, I thought that I was trite So back the way I was I'll be To shed abroad my light." Then off they rushed in waves of flame Their rightful place to gain; No man can e'er the heavens tame, That surely isn't plain. Whene'ere alone in dark of night That girl recalls her friends: And now I think the time is right So here my story ends. ~Written December 25th 2012