An artist’s rendering of Cannibal G moments after he consumed his beloved Dwarf. Image: NASA
It was many and many a light-year away
In a universe ‘round you and me
That a star did shine whom you may know
By the name of Cannibal G.
And this star, he could barely contain his mass,
A giant in doomed company.
G was a star; his love was a star,
In this universe ‘round you and me.
They orbed with an orb tighter than the great orbs—
Dwarf and Cannibal G—
They circled each other — a binary dance —
In orbits that neither could flee.
And this was the reason that, far away,
In this universe ‘round you and me,
His strong, steady pull reeled her in, killing
His love. O Cannibal G!
The giant star flared, he burned, he blazed!
He’d swallowed his own dear cheri!
His own very self had become the grave
Of the one he loved passionately.
Other stars witnessed the flagrant death,
A heavenly cruelty.
And that is the reason (as all stars know,
In this universe ‘round you and me)
Resist they must, lest they tempt the fate
Of Dwarf and Cannibal G.
Yet theirs was a pull, the strongest of pulls—
A force that was not gravity—
A force from which hearts are not free—
So though she was gone, her heart pulled on;
He felt it and knew it was she.
And only sweet Dwarf could feel the force
Of the tug of Cannibal G.
He no longer beams but has fiery dreams,
The cursed, loved Cannibal G.
And ne’er will Dwarf rise, but ever has eyes
Only for Cannibal G.
So sings his bride, whose strains won’t subside,
That music of spheres pulsing with their strange tide—
Forever the stars’ threnody—
At her tomb, her love’s perigee.