The Sea of Suns

One night I woke as from a dream

Of the skies red with reflected flames

And screaming in the streets

Of “Death To,”

“Down With” –

Of raised hands holding

Holy books and flashing swords,

And fire raining from the skies

From death-robots flying on high.

I woke, and went to the window

Looked out at the sky.

Out where uncounted galaxies

Blaze with a billion billion stars

Quasars pumping X rays into the void

Black holes gulping the slow-crawling

Gravity-bent radio beams and rays of light;

Things stranger than anything that can be imagined

Dark matter and energy

Pulsars like the heartbeat of space and time.

The nurseries of the Cosmos -

Monster-clouds of dust and gas

Birthing stars anew.

A hundred million trillion worlds

Filled with wonder, filled with mystery

And meaning for me and for you.

I stood looking out into the void

And from the corner of my eye

Watched as men with guns, drones with rockets

And companies with bulldozers and bank accounts

Told us how we must live and die.

Copyright B Purkayastha 2014