Earth Is an Instar

Lonely only for arriving early
In the twig tips of one spiraling arm
Of one crown in the crowded canopy,

But ready to start eating what’s in reach.
Fuzzy-headed, well-camouflaged monster
Of hungry, hungry mouthparts, blending in

With all the other light-catching patterns
Tossing in the stellar wind, it bites down
On the uninfected, gall-free planets

In the immediate vicinity.
It’s just getting started. Divinity
Couldn’t yet notice the gaps in the leaves,

But it won’t be forever before night
Starts looking tatty from other instars
Growing fat, battening on their systems.

For this universe, it’s just seasonal,
Another round in the contest between
Star furnaces and life. The planets molt

To mate as enormous, drapery-winged
Angels darkening bare-armed galaxies,
Then fall but leave their seeds so it repeats.