Empyreal Heart and Soul
O Nebulae of Heart and Soul!
In infrared portrayal WISE,
your colors grace the stellar skies.
Have you a core celestial role?
Supernal presences you seem
that steal one’s fancy unawares,
far-off from earthly human cares,
inspiring a soulful dream.
Does music of the spheres resound
in utterness of heavens’ art
to beating of a boundless heart
we seldom hear here on the ground?
You bring to mind the vintage song,
where lovers fell in love and kissed
one magic night in moonlit mist—
a classic tune, still going strong.
Six thousand light-years from our Earth
is where you two evince your charm—
part of Perseus’ spiral arm—
in cosmic womb for starry birth.
That limb is in our Milky Way.
Cassiopeia holds the Soul
east of the Heart, to make the whole
of the mosaic on display.
Your archetypal names evoke
Cupid and Psyche myths of old,
tales allegorical untold,
poetic visions you awoke.
In concert you’re a perfect pair.
Befittingly you reign on high.
Lest we forget wherefore and why,
our true humanity is there!
~ Harley White
< June, 2015 >
Inspiration for the poem came from the image and article “Heart and Soul”... at [www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/wiseimage20100524.html]
[The Heart and Soul Nebulae are seen in this infrared mosaic from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. All four infrared detectors aboard WISE were used to make this image. Color is representational: blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is dominated by light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust.]
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