Tuesday 18 February 2020

Trappist


[Trappist]

Philip Harvey

Dear Father Louis, TRAPPIST-1, not you
But the named nearby ultracool dwarf  star
Parents seven terrestrial planets oooh aaah!
Goldilocks hot and cold, but not too.
The most famous anonymous man alive
Who left his ego at the abbey door
Only to meet him inside more and more,
Lo the heavens were awesome and high five.
Novice master, paper chase hero,
You were the star wishing you were nameless:
A line of ink titled Trappist Zero.
It’s all over now, just words and silence
As the sun beats down and who is blameless,
Each name signing off its mortal compliance.



Footnote. Father Louis was the religious name of Thomas Merton, the prolific Cistercian. Here is further information about the star in question, which is about the size of Jupiter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRAPPIST-1  




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