BBBB

Brief But Burning Bright or Ode to Christina’s Great-Grandmother

In the jazzy den of space,
All smoke and viscosity,
Big-swirl nebulas hang heavy
In the furniture.
In the dark corners, little eye-lights
Blink on and on.

Looking down at the rocks,
All wet with newness,
Big birds catch fire and crash
Into your deepest body
Of cool blue water.

Flung out on a lunar limb,
A million crescent miles rage before you.
Hugging the craggy underside of a cascade,
Missing your old mother’s mom,
Chest paining your breath,
Aches gnawing in your moonlight-white
Bones, she fired past burning bright.
In her way, in your fragility, you miss that bird
That flew by in your life,
Brief but burning bright.