Words: Alice McCloskey (she/her)
Andromeda,
Oldest celestial object
seen by naked eye ⠀⠀.⠀✦ ⠀. ⠀* ⠀
A beacon in the northern sphere
Against the vast extremity of an empty, dark autumn night
When the colours of the wilting, waning leaves,
Match
the radiance of
your hair
When the choking of the cold air
Transforms breath to mist and droplets of star.
⠀⠀⠀. . ﾟ . . ✦ , .
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
* .✦
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀. . ⠀⠀⠀✦ ⠀ ⠀* ⠀⠀⠀. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀*⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀
✦ . Your stars interlap softly with your lover’s,
Forever you lie,
The Chained Woman.
Offered up to Cetus and tethered to a rock
To placate Poseidon’s sea
And the vanity of jealous nereids.
* .⠀⠀⠀✦ ⠀ ⠀* ⠀⠀⠀.
Beside you, Perseus, grandson of Zeus,
He who would free you, turn Cetus to stone,
Wielding the head of slaughtered Medusa
. ⠀✦ ﾟ . In exchange
for your hand. . .✦ .
⠀✦ ﾟ Now, you share an eternal union in the stars
Perseus – fighting, armoured, great.
Beside you –
The shackled woman, forever tied to the night sky. . ﾟ . . .
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀✦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How many have looked up at you,
Perhaps finding you, or parts of you – Alferatz, M31, M32
Or perhaps unaware of who you are
Still drawn
to your burning
celestial light
That reminds us all of the cruelty administered by the capricious sea,
The danger of gloating mothers,
And hasty, heartless fathers.
✦ , .
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
* .✦
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀. . ⠀⠀⠀✦ ⠀ ⠀* ⠀⠀⠀.
As nebulas give birth to stars,
And supernovas set the sky alight,
We will gaze upon you eternally
As every shackled soul longing to be found within the night
Has done before,
Knowing that within your chains
A whole galaxy lies,
The Princess Andromeda.
✦ , .
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
* .✦
⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀. . ⠀⠀⠀✦ ⠀ ⠀* ⠀⠀⠀.
So so beautiful :’)
Out of this world