Paul F. Cummins

ELEGY

Surrounded by rings of gas and desolate galaxies
bereft of sound and acknowledgement,
prisoners of the increasing rule of darkness
hurtling with accelerated speed into the eternal
void of no time and no history at all,
I feel a wistful sadness and modicum of pride
for what earth dwellers in occasional moments of grace
were able to achieve within the doom of destiny.

—from Rattle #37, Summer 2012