A Rock Star Fable
How can a rock become a star?
I would shine if the way were clear.
I'd travel too, though not too far
for gravity binds me (I call it fear).
I asked the moon if he could tell
how he had become so bright a man.
"Silly rock," he said, "know full well
I am no star and no rock can
become such a blazing ball of gas."
"This I cannot believe," said I.
"You're the brightest mass
in the whole night's sky!"
"I shine, it's true," the moon man said.
"But only because I allow my sun
to reflect off of me in my stead."
"What?" said I. "How's that fun?
I'd rather remain a rock, I say!"
And so I have, until this day.
The moral of this tale isn't light:
an egomaniac will never be bright.
+ By John Rieping (1996)
I would shine if the way were clear.
I'd travel too, though not too far
for gravity binds me (I call it fear).
I asked the moon if he could tell
how he had become so bright a man.
"Silly rock," he said, "know full well
I am no star and no rock can
become such a blazing ball of gas."
"This I cannot believe," said I.
"You're the brightest mass
in the whole night's sky!"
"I shine, it's true," the moon man said.
"But only because I allow my sun
to reflect off of me in my stead."
"What?" said I. "How's that fun?
I'd rather remain a rock, I say!"
And so I have, until this day.
The moral of this tale isn't light:
an egomaniac will never be bright.
+ By John Rieping (1996)
For more poetry, CLICK HERE.