Alnilam

The furthest from us,
Peering through nearer
Lights, beaded curtains,

The blue giant burns
From Roman and Han
Eras, reaching us,

As right now, tonight,
As if freshly fired,
Waves caught by our eyes.

You can stand outside
Even in large towns
And detect that light.

It’s just one, thousands
Of times more intense
Than our sun, which is

So much more massive
Than our world, which is
So much more massive

Than this scurf of us
Plaguing its surface,
Who are each so much

More massive than those
Infusoria
Teeming in our guts,

Without which we’d die
And cease signaling,
As Earth without us

Would stop signaling
And shedding robot
Spores around the sun,

Which will never be
A great blue giant
Like that star we’ve named

Alnilam, sapphire,
Pearl, scale, belt—all small
Things from cosmic dust.