They say we can see
thirteen billion light years in
that diection. But,
look in the other: oh my
good God, the stars have gone out!
A neutron star has just
devoured Uranus---way too
close. The Congresses
cannot pause their bickerings
to consider escape plans.
Kyakuchuu
Author's Notes/Comments:
In the original draft, the planet to be devoured would have been Pluto. But Uranus sounds more . . . uh . . . disturbingly intimate.
The fourth and fifth lines of the first tanka are my riff on the end of Arthur C. Clakre's chilling short story, "The Nine Billion Names Of God."