For Zachary James Hesketh

Destined annihilation lurks in the back of my mind–
it is easy to get lost in the planning ahead sometimes.

Looking for the constellations in the night sky evokes an eerie togetherness,
everything is always so lonely but really, we are not and will never be alone.

I am trying to remember what the warmth of sunlight meant in the middle of winter
and I wonder if we will get to meet Andromeda well before the sun expands and kills us all.

On my last day in this universe, I want to stare up on a clear winter night
and get lost in the haze swallowing what’s left of the moon.

Hold the feeling of smallness in my chest as I search between stars,
I don’t know what I will find until it has consumed me.

The galaxy will hang overhead in evenings throughout winter,
rising in the eastern sky at witching hour. There it will remain

as time bleeds into the morning dawn’s glow and I will try to think
what will my shadow look like as the sun sets? Planning ahead again.

The seams between the seasons will begin to split, Deadzone to Restless Days.
December is always treacherous, and I suspect it is only right

that everything will find its gentle end here.