Liberty Pareidolia
In Arm Sagittarius, Milky Way,
we earthlings were welcomed with warm embrace
for proliferation at rapid pace
of myriad life forms in grand array.
A cloudscape statue in cosmic survey
colossally raises beacon in space
‘midst masses of stardust which interlace
with nebula’s pareidolic display.
Oh lady iconic of shape opaque,
what secrets empyreal might you guard,
or have you appeared to humans awake
with lifted torch, as sidereal bard,
in lesson ironic for mortal ache
of how to achieve transmigration starred?
Vast astral creation is going on
within NGC three five seven six
where forceful winds wend their way through the mix
from heavenly bodies that liaison
to contour the looping filaments drawn
among celestial stelliferous cliques
and thus resemblance to sculpture affix
of Bartholdi’s monument paragon.
About nine thousand light-years from where we
as earth dweller species swagger and prance
lies likeness to Statue of Liberty,
a gift to US from country of France
with poem for those who ‘yearn to breathe free’
in famed Emma Lazarus sonnet’s stance.
Dimensions commingle above, below;
galactic domains are born as they die,
begetting each other in endless sky;
past, present, and future together flow,
unfathomable in their quid pro quo
in infinite reaches of realms on high,
as time of our lives seems to pass us by;
eternity in eternal tableau.
And yet on our tiny blue solar sphere,
world-wide as behavior eludes us still.
Oft dominated by hatred and fear
we frenziedly seek desire to fulfill.
Can anything prompt us to keep peace here?
Perhaps pareidolic silhouette will.
~ Harley White
* * * * * * * * *
The form is that of Petrarchan sonnet stanzas (three sonnets)…
Some sources of inspiration were the following…
The New Colossus (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus
NGC 3576 (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_3576
NGC 3576: Glowing Gas in the Milky Way (Chandra X-ray)…
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/NGC3576-glowing-gas-milky-way.html
NGC 3576, The Statue of Liberty Nebula (Anne’s Astronomy)…
http://annesastronomynews.com/photo-gallery-ii/nebulae-clouds/ngc-3576/
The NGC 3576 Nebula (APOD)…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080326.html
NGC 3576: The Statue of Liberty Nebula (APOD)…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160928.html
Explanation: What’s happening in the Statue of Liberty nebula? Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming and being liberated. The complex nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57. This image showcases dense knots of dark interstellar dust, bright stars that have formed in the past few million years, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars. A detailed study of NGC 3576, also known as NGC 3582 and NGC 3584, uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation, and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun’s formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth. The featured image was taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
Image Credit & Copyright: S. Mazlin, J. Harvey, R. Gilbert, & D. Verschatse (SSRO/PROMPT/UNC)
#poetry