Space is grandeur, but are they the same?
Comfort’s antithetical to cosmos;
Condensed from nebulae, this whitened skeletal frame
And vault of archenteron, galactic by osmosis,
Of coelom and caelum belie acclaim
And seek from the moment of parturition
The wall, the small compartment, the partition.
Greatness is all very well, and fame,
Out there in space that’s disembodying, self-less —
No souls, no selves but heroes being selfless —
One clings to constellations for a shape, a name:
The Muse rides Pegasus, Alexander — Bucephalus.
Space means more, and more means riches,
And depth, too, says treasure lies farther on;
It’s in its endlessness that desolation bewitches;
And in its measuredness, the ruined Parthenon.
Nebulae – (Pronounced NEB-yu-lee) Masses of gas or dust in interstellar space.
Archenteron – (Pronounced ar-KENT-er-on) The body cavity of an early-stage embryo.
Osmosis – Absorption through a membrane.
Coelom – (Pronounced SEE-lum) The body cavity in animals.
Caelum – Latin for 1) the sky, the heavens; 2) a sculptor’s chisel; 3) a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere likened to a chisel. Caelum is pronounced KY‑lum, (“ky” rhyming with “sky”) in the classical method; CHE‑lum (“che” as in “check”) in the ecclesiastical method; and SEE‑lum when referring to the constellation.
Parturition – The act of giving birth.
Self-less vs. Selfless – Self-less with a hyphen means lacking a sense of oneself; selfless means unselfish.
The Muse rides Pegasus – From Greek mythology; the Muses were the nine sister goddesses presiding over the arts and sciences: Poetry (Epic, Love, and Lyric), Song, Dance, Comedy, Tragedy, History, and Astronomy. Pegasus was a flying horse and a favorite of the Muses. Near their home he struck the earth with his hoof and created a gushing spring (or fountain, or well) which conferred inspiration on those who drank its water. Pegasus is also a northern constellation.
Alexander — Bucephalus – Refers to Alexander the Great (356‑323 B.C.), king of Macedonia and conqueror of Greece, the Persian Empire, and Egypt. He rode a war horse named Bucephalus (pronounced byu‑SEF‑a‑lus, from Greek “ox‑headed”).
The Parthenon – A famous temple on the Acropolis at Athens.
