Darkness expresses a link to the earth
and the otherness.
She painted water
but I saw a comet –
streaking against the vast cosmos.
No link to the earth
but movement away
from all attachment.
Burning, consuming itself
to propel forward
brightly against the dark,
trailing light and stardust
to return at an interval
determined by its own mass
and center of gravity
beyond our lives.

for Martha McDonald