Poem: "The Sungrazers"
This poem came out of the July 6, 2010 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon about rites of passage for beings who evolve in a vacuum. I also drew some inspiration from the sungrazing comets. The poem was sponsored out of general donations, selected by the audience in a poll.
The Sungrazers
-- a sonnet
As children, from the dust of space we grow.
In dark and silent vacuum we embrace
What signals tell the story of our race.
With adolescence, toward the sun we go.
What fate awaits us there, we do not know:
The sun compels us inward, where we face
A chance at death or puberty, one place
Divided by two passages below.
The same thing kindles life and threatens death:
The nearness of the sun, its raging heat,
In which we find our heaven, or our hell.
We graze upon the sun and drink its breath,
Not knowing which of two fates we will meet.
It matters only that we face it well.