2015 Poetry Post 9: Pearls made of beads

It came together
softly,
we think:
a beaded work
of ice and glass
with pieces born
throughout the solar system
and pieces borne
on hydrogen winds.

The first push
must have been soft
as well.
After eons beyond Neptune
perhaps a gentle tug from an
unknowable star
or a poke from an
anonymous neighbor.
A change in speed
a glacier could outrun
leading to catastrophic
climate change.

The first encounter
was by chance
if inevitable.
A random disassembly,
violent but low-stress,
more Roche than rock
as pearls made of beads
were served on plates
full of stars.

When the end came
we were privileged to watch.
Ice and glass
borne on hydrogen winds
in a ceremony completed
by uncounted
and unwatched
cousins before.

---

This is something of a group effort: The excellent Christine Reuter and Noam Izenberg are also writing poems on the topic of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 today, and there's the chance some others will also join us!

I'd also be remiss not to point out this is SL9's second appearance as a poem subject. I wrote about it in 2012, though that has a very different slant. I've also incorporated a bit of more recent science into this one. :)