
Christina Sng
Diamond Dust
In
the reflection nebula, Messier 78,
Our
scooper ship sifts diamond dust
Like
baleen whales through darkened seas.
We
are 1400 light-years from Earth,
Eager
to go home, bringing Messier’s
Bountiful
riches back to our loved ones.
In
the faded swirls
We
see suspended clumps
Of
partially-formed frost golems
Drifting
in the black,
Sparking
the possibility of life.
Beyond
our eyes
An
impossibly bright
Perfectly-formed
diamond,
A
colossal gem
200
times the size of Earth,
Reflects
starlight as it spins.
We enter its orbit,
Marveling
like children
On
their first visit to Disneyland,
At
its dazzling kaleidoscope
Of
shimmering rainbows.
I
record and lay first claim
To
the object,
Sending
its coordinates
And
the names
Of
all our crewmembers.
The
planet is now ours.
We
will return with an ark
And
our prospecting ships
To
begin mining.
Our
future generations
Will
never starve,
Unlike
those remaining on Earth,
Left
to wilt
Like
flowers in the dark.
The
planet’s gravity
Suddenly
strengthens,
Rapidly
pulling us in.
Even
at full thrust,
Our
ship is unable
To
overpower it.
Yet,
we are in awe.
There
is intelligent life
On
this planet
Powered
most likely
By
white hole technology.
We
send this data home
Just
as we are yanked
Out
of orbit and smashed against
The
brilliant, blinding surface.
The
object discards
Our
ship’s metal husk,
Ingesting
only carbon.
What
it wanted all along was us.
Christina Sng is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Collection of Nightmares and Elgin Award runner-up Astropoetry. Her poetry has appeared in numerous venues worldwide, and received multiple nominations in the Rhysling Awards and the Dwarf Stars, as well as honorable mentions in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and the Best Horror of the Year. Visit her at http://www.christinasng.com and connect on social media @christinasng.
Editor’s Notes: It is noteworthy that some white dwarfs (the end product of a stellar death of a star like our sun after it passes through its red giant phase) could actually be a planet-sized diamond: https://www.space.com/26335-coldest-white-dwarf-star-diamond.html. And it’s quite possible to find red giants and white dwarfs in some reflection nebulae, but not in the ones that are stellar nurseries. Messier 78 (M78) is a reflection nebula and a star forming region which is quite young—about 2 million years old—in the constellation Orion just above the lower belt star, 1600 light-years from Earth. So it is impossible for it to contain any white dwarfs, but we can suspend disbelief in the case of this lovely poem.
The image (by ESO/Igor Chekalin) was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope (La Silla Observatory, Chile). This color picture was created from many monochrome exposures taken through blue, yellow/green and red filters, supplemented by exposures through a filter that isolates light from glowing hydrogen gas.
Very nice! Good final line.
A clever telling of a clever story. Nice!
.
Pushcart Prize nominated as well, congrats!!!
Alan Summers
co-founder, Call of the Page