issue two / celestial
from the lectern of nyx
Caroline Chou
to bathe in the milky way is to
accept your hair turning silver.
it is to let moonlight tattoo itself
across the back of your neck,
to quiet as the cosmos sinks
into your veins and turns mortal
skin to paper. dip a palm into
the water and see how the current
flows. the stars hold certain truths
that they release into the night.
look for them. here, they lie
beneath diana’s eye. perhaps their
wisdom is in their silence and
the turning of the tides.
look for them. they hold still
the way nothing else can.
there, they lie unmoving as
these waves swell around us.
perhaps only their gaze can
slow the pulsing of human hearts.
for they alone know what it’s like
to be a stone in a temporary world
that can only dream of infinity.
accept your hair turning silver.
it is to let moonlight tattoo itself
across the back of your neck,
to quiet as the cosmos sinks
into your veins and turns mortal
skin to paper. dip a palm into
the water and see how the current
flows. the stars hold certain truths
that they release into the night.
look for them. here, they lie
beneath diana’s eye. perhaps their
wisdom is in their silence and
the turning of the tides.
look for them. they hold still
the way nothing else can.
there, they lie unmoving as
these waves swell around us.
perhaps only their gaze can
slow the pulsing of human hearts.
for they alone know what it’s like
to be a stone in a temporary world
that can only dream of infinity.
< previously published in Rewrite the Stars Review >
Caroline Chou (she/her) is a writer from Maryland with a love for leitmotifs and magical realism. Her work has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Writers and published in The Aurora Journal and Aster Lit, among others. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading fantasy, playing golf, or doodling everywhere she shouldn't.