Reverse-Claustrophobia

What-ho, starhunter!

Do you see now what they never tell you
about space up close?

Your earth-view told you the sky is cold
and wild

But this is no gem-burdened nightsling
white fires warring over territory
clambering for an enclave in barrenness

This is sterile darkness
bone-quiet black tundra
still as the space between heartbeats

Tethered by your white umbilical, listen
to the synapses between stars
humming with impossible love

And regret that they have chosen to live
with clefts between them
and a blue-limned globe below

These voids are full of wanting
for praise and music and
warm bodies

Colliding reeks of violence
and is rare
but a shattered star bleeds gold.