4. The Milky Way

A cluster of stars

In a small part of the universe

Spiraling through space and time.

Deep inside

Is the eternal darkness,

The eternal mass

It lies dormant now.

But for millennia before

It actively ate

Spewing vast energies

From its mighty stomach.

The milky stellar octopus

Swam the dark cosmos

As two smaller galaxies tag along

Like small round remora fish

In a deep black ocean.

Danger lurks light-years away

The spinning lady gets ever closer.

Someday

Her arms will intertwine with ours

Causing pieces of each of us to fly off

In a great cosmic collision.

That’s still billions of years ahead of us.

The galaxy’s young

No need to worry about the future.

For now

We turn inward

To a more familiar sight.

3. Galaxies, Stars and Planets

Gas,

Dust,

Light,

Energy,

Matter,

Atoms,

Molecules,

Etcetera, etcetera,

Forever and ever amen.

Swirling around in blackness.

Growing together

Gaining mass.

Stars group together to become massive stellar octopi.

Black holes,

The eternal darkness

Set the octopi in motion

As they eat the stars.

Slowly spiraling through the cosmos

Super-massive stars ignite,

Burn out

Explode into novae and supernovae.

The remnant nebulae become wombs for new stars

Life begins anew.

They are the heavy element factories.

Expelling gas and dust around them,

Forming heavier objects.

Fragments of burning rock

Slowly coming together.

Birth and rebirth are part of the universe.

Out of destruction comes creation.

The fall of one star ignites new ones.

The old reforms to new.

Cycles continue over centuries and millennia.

Planets form,

Are destroyed.

The process is repeated.

Life,

Light,

Land

All come and go.

Repeating throughout the universe.

The divine laws of physics and quantum physics are set in place.

The stars have their job and they do it well.