Far from It

The death of a big star
Is the stage of a star
That looks the most like life,

At least to those of us
Who know what life looks like
On our one hunk of dirt—

Death should bear fine names.
Let life have the foul
Names that mean to die.

Yes, yes, life is grand,
But the grand must fail,
Must stop with the grand,

And it’s weird that life
Looks worst as it fails
(There’s a foul name—fail),

While that which is not
Life, that which just burns,
Looks its best, most like

Life, most grand, as it
Bursts! A cloud of light,
Of waves of all kinds

Blooms in deep, dark space,
And you say, Now that
Would be death for all

Of life on Earth, if
Earth had been too close.
So far, all else fails.