cooling

we are not
like the stars,
millions of years
to burn.

(we die without notice)

expanding, exploding,
consuming the void,
illuminating
as if an entire galaxy,

the force outward
hits some critical limit,
time reverses,
quantum numbers
get frisky,
the supernova collapses

punching a hole
through space,
or maybe just settling down
into a cold, hard darkness.

learning patience
like the sun,
terra-bound, I wait,
as deserted feeders
tell my season,

would-be visitors
distracted by endless fields
of seed.

this was the first cool morning
to carry the threat,

the earth spinning
towards
some secret end