Unimportant Universe

Rotating into the emptier
Night skies of winter in the northern
Hemisphere, glance up and consider

How easy it was to believe the stars
Dragged fortunes around with them,
Including the fortunes of kingdoms,

Including your own small fortunes.
Now, they’re unimportant, lights
And objects of contemplation,

And if your fortune and misfortune
Were to depend on them again
It would only be if an emissary

Of some unknowable kind happened
To touch Earth in your short lifetime.