The Great Beyond

The stars live beyond any known horizon
So far in the distance as to be infinite
Appearing as pearls in the sky
Only showing apparitions of their true selves

Each a gargantuan ball of nuclear fire
Wreathed by rings of burnished rocks
Drifting through an icy void

Are we not a faint twinkling star
In some dark alien night?
A deserted landscape of craters
With a lonely living marble too faint to see

What living planets must thrive in the great beyond!
Worlds with lakes, land and waterfall
With forests and oceans
With animals watching through telescopes
Wondering if there are beings like them
Out in the great beyond

In this vast universe
The familiar is alien
The alien is familiar