Betelgeuse, we are told, is dying –
on the verge of a supernova
dimmer, now brighter, shape-shifting
toward its own inevitable end.
Will it become another “guest” star
like those seen by the ancients,
Chinese and Roman alike,
brightening night, illuminating day.
celestial kin to those of millennia past,
exploding, expanding, becoming
a shining light rivaling the moon.
Will we see your glorious demise,
share your last, your blazing finale,
be witness to the beauty and power
of the universe, or will you save that
for someone else to see, maybe one
thousand, ten thousand, or one hundred
thousand years far off into a distant
future where no prying eyes may see
your glorious, magnificent death.
About the Poem
The star Betelgeuse may supernova at any moment – but maybe not for eons, too!
About the Author
J. B. Hogan has published over 300 stories and poems and eleven books, including Bar Harbor, Bounty Riders, Time and Time Again, Mexican Skies, Tin Hollow, Living Behind Time, Losing Cotton, The Rubicon, Fallen, The Apostate, and Angels in the Ozarks (nonfiction, local professional baseball history). He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.