Outbound

Grady McMurtry

Knocking, glancing, looping, swirling,

Bound together in this whirling,

Rolling swarm of outbound cinders;

Slag of the void, cold embers

That have known the crushing heat

Of some star guts’ pulsing beat

And then into deep space were spawned.

Their parent dead, there is no bond

To bind them; nomads they become,

Stray homeless stardust on the bum,

Weaving out through galaxies,

Plunging where their fancies please,

Till tiring of this endless tour

They find there is a yearning lure

In black starless Infinity:

An urge that will not let them be.

So beyond the last outposted

Sun they long ago have coasted.

What lies beyond? Who knows? Who cares?

This is a jolly gang who dares

The limits of the timeless shore

On which they’ll drift forevermore.

[11]