(On the predicted collision of the Milky Way
and the Andromeda Galaxy in ca. 4 billion years)
by Austin Theriot
O Andromeda, who told you to melt the sky?
To dissolve the stars and fashion the night anew?
Where will Perseus be when, at last, two die
And one is formed where once was two?
Through such a marriage, you claim the milky throne,
And thereby crush the starry hero’s story.
Conquer what you will – your newfound glory
Finds its bard in reconfigured sparks alone.
Was it vanity that left you stranded at the water’s edge?
Such vanity casts you to a darker, ancient sea.
Your dragon comes once more to steal you off the ledge –
This time, your hero’s vanished in the gravity.
This earthy home of ours might then
outlive its home among the stars.