Ice Star Poem by Laurence Overmire

What tidings do you bring
Like Mercury from the gods
You fiery-footed herald
Of the vast unknown?
How many civilizations did rise and fall
Since your last report?
How many seas have vanished
From the cosmic shores
Burned to vapor ‘neath a million suns
And how many creatures spent their final breath
Separate and alone
On the brink of time?

You have the answers
You refuse to speak
Or perhaps
We do not hear
Your foreign tongue
Those flaming words enchant the eye
But miss the brain.

I cannot see you now.
You stray too far.
Afraid to touch this brittle earth
Hurtling toward the gulf of black eclipse?

Send my regards
You vagabond Prince
To those distant stars
Beyond the light
And whisper my story
To the sleeping moons
Nestled in their pillows
Of galactic dust.

And when next you return
And find me gone
Listen for an echo
And speak for me
To the wondering world
Below.


(Previously published in Poetry DownUnder, March 2000)