Dark Matter

You bend Light passing by,
cavort with Gravity,
who likes the creation of new space
everywhere,
energy building,

universe expanding,
accelerating

as hydrogen learned to separate,
to cool down
from your closeness,

to form stars of its own,
small galaxies in a universe
of 85% no emission,
no absorption of light.

Dark energy, you pass right through us
knowing
all along you belong to Mystery.

Reflection Nebula

You are interstellar dust
reflecting light,

grains of micron
size
containing silicates,
aluminum oxide,
calcium, hydrogen.

You are where stars are born,
unlike your sisters, your brethren
of supernovae remnants
or planetary nebulae
that encircle stars dying.

You are the blue that scatters,
the dust that covers,
the motion of magnetic fields,

holders and flyers
of impermanence,

galactic dazzle
unreachable.

Star Consumed

Black hole swallowed star,

Swift drawing close, a gas
to form accretion disk
millions of degrees hot.

Jets drove particles out
almost at the speed of light—
(powered by magnetic fields)
to be flares lasting years
as X-ray, gamma, ultraviolet

taking 3.9 billion years
to reach Earth, with X-rays
10,000 times brighter
than what’s normal
for known tidal disruptions
of a black hole, cavern
one million times more
than the mass of the sun.

They say a star was shredded.
I think more it was gifted
new light, a burst of energy

beaming
funnels opposite direction travel,
cosmic rays birthed—
fastest known particles.

Poetry, Science, Space