Neowise

I never saw the twin-tailed comet Neowise.
I never let its dim rays flicker into my dim vision.
I will now have to wait 6,700 years.

I could never escape the light of the city.
I could never escape the quarantine apartment.
I could never escape the articles hinting where to look if I would only look at their ads.

I could never escape the contents of my buzzing glass.
I could never escape the videos in my browser tab.
I could never escape the gravity of my evening chair.

I could never escape the hopeless news cycle.
I could never escape the habitual doomscrolling.
I could never escape the swallowed rage at inept inaction.

Now, that ball of ice and ash casts itself homeward to the Oort cloud,
Observing the laws of Kepler and Copernicus and Newton,
Blind to our decline by the laws of escalation and aggression and averages.

When Neowise returns to our Solar neighborhood,
Those who will give it a new name will not remember us;
They will not know of our breathless struggles.

By then, there is only new wisdom and forgotten tragedy.
All above is ice and ash, never escaping,
Orbiting into eternity.