Stars twinkle because light travels through turbulence in the atmosphere.

Stars have a special gleam, a twinkle about them.
Only to be seen from your safe distance.
Galaxies away, they are gods of the universe.
Immortal and beautiful.

I tried to count all the stars in the universe.
Only to realize my ignorance.
That infinity cannot be totaled.

I tried to write about them.
But enigma of that kind can never be words.
We may try, but we will always fail.

And maybe that's the point.
That I can say that.
I tried to write about these gods.
And I failed.
And I'm supposed to see the beauty in that failure.
Failure to write about the stars.

But with a newfound thirst for stardust.
A heady objection to failure.
And just maybe.
For a fear that.
After passing up opportunities.
During The First and The Second.
I may not outlive them this time.

So now, in The Third Big Bang.
I can now proudly say.
I went star-hopping.
For the first time.

***

I first came to a constellation.
Shaped like a heart, with a small crack.

But I soon realized that these are silly gods.
And from that point I decided.
To call them plainly as stars.

These stars.
Kept on moving away from each and each.
Their respective gravities chose to repel.
And caused the small crack to open wider.
Wider, bigger, and in danger of breaking apart.
For reasons shocking and mysterious.
Mysterious, and no longer enigmatic.

Silly gods, indeed.

***

Indeed.
Stars have a special gleam, a twinkle about them.
Only to be seen from your safe distance.
Galaxies away, they are gods of the universe.
Immortal and beautiful.
But they burn you up close.

There are billions and billions.
Out there, so infinite of them.
And you.
It is you who burns the most.

pm