Cry of the Stars

The stars are crying for the way humanity seeks to destroy itself. They cry little drops of acid rainbows shooting across the sky. Their sadness consumes themselves as giant balls of light and heat burst apart. Tears of jagged rocks and sparks fire fall for the wildfires sweeping across humanity. Stars cry beautiful tears for the way power divides up a neighborhood by borderlines. They can smell the fear of a mother as she kisses her children a second too long before heading out to the market. They can hear the silent breathing of the teens silenced by one person strong enough to speak the truth none of them wanted to hear. The stars can't close their eyes from the cruelty of a group of teens that isolate each other in hatred because society taught them to be afraid of love. They feel the burn as fires are lit in the way a parent teaches their children to hate. They listen to the promises of revenge that are born when the gunshots take away a baby brother from the sister who was supposed to watch him. They paint their sorrow on the night sky with intricate pictures depicting the constellations that made such terrible mistakes eons ago that today their name is mythical and their story is legend. 1

Giant balls of fire and gas and rock explode into fragments trying to warn humanity what their cruelty and hatred will come to. The stars give themselves up to the forces more powerful than themselves in giant explosions – a way to display their grief in the way society has taught its daughters and sons to hate them for not looking a certain way. The Novas release all their energy, an outlet for the sharp pains consuming them as they see our nightmares become the reality their eyes are clear enough to see. 2

The shining stars are overcome by the primitive cry of a child soldier when he realizes he isn’t going to see his mother again. His sorrow is muffled in a scrap of dirty cloth before anyone can see his vulnerability. 3

The stars experience the betrayal with the people as they stand in the rain staring at the doors shut in their face. They weep tears of desperation with the people deserted by the ones put in power to protect them. Broken promises pierce the flesh of the mothers and fathers as the government turns a blind eye to the killings. The children shake in silent sobs not wanting to add to their parents sorrow by letting them hear their cries. The stars wince at the verbal lashes driving home into the hearts of the women who sacrifice themselves so their babies don’t have to remember their fathers ever hurting them.4

The stars listen to the forgotten prayers of the children born in violence but who dream of peace. They watch as bombs of hatred don’t know borders and tear into innocent civilians. The stars cry for the grief of those children’s family and for grief of those who know that a new era of hatred has just been born. The stars add their voices to the grieving mothers cry whose pain will turn their surviving children to hate. They smell the fumes of the toxic chemicals that have scarred countryside and permanently marked hundreds of children as victims of Agent Orange. The stars force themselves to watch as children raised to hate fulfill childhood promises of revenge for loved ones by strapping explosives to their bodies and continue a cycle death and creating more hate. 5

Black holes stand in the sky, endless for eternity a reminder to the stars of centuries of hatred and war. Deep without a bottom, the black holes are a tribute to all the lives lost in the name of hate. They are the gaping wounds in the sky dug by the stars lost in their grief. The stars painted their grief upon the night sky for humanity to see and interpret but humanity was blinded by the power that consumed them, They pierced the empty black with holes of pain and sorrow and built them of their grief so when humanity has destroyed themselves, they can never forget. The stars fling their tears of ash and rock away into the wounds. The empty spaces between the cracking of their hearts fill the dark holes. The stars in their sky empty their anger at human cruelty, sadness for the story whose ending has already been foretold, and their fear about the betrayal of the youngest generations by the ones who taught them hate and never end the wars. Still the black holes are not full. 6

The stars call out to the people manipulated by hate to break their silence and be heard. Their eyes blink back burning tears when they witness the abuse of people taught to hate themselves for whom they are because they are different. The stars cry for the way humanity is blind and unable to see how hard it will be for the generations that will have to pick up the pieces in a destroyed world they inherited. The stars cried for the bombs we dropped on each other in the name of peace, they are crying for the children whose lives center on hate, and they will cry for the generations that have lost the meaning of what it is to have a future.7

Stars shine brighter in their glory at the neighbors who give up their generations’ feuds to drive through the night to bring medicine to a family whose matriarch is dying and whose patriarch is in prison. The stars smile at the daring of one girl unafraid to try to break down the divisions by refusing to be a stereotype and turning away from labels. They laugh, overjoyed at the courage of a seven-year-old girl who stands up to soldiers with guns and condemns the fighting for the foolishness it is. They nod in pride at a blunt elderly grandmother who asks them how much shame their mothers would feel if they knew they raised their children to be prideful about beating a woman who could barely walk. They can feel the strength as hundreds of people stand together silent to give the silenced a voice. They respect the people who sacrifice their will to fight for a future of peace. They admire the families who teach each other to let go of their hate so they can begin to heal. The stars have hope in these moments that bring light. They don’t stop crying but these moments they aren’t crying in pain. Hope and what could be is set on fire in the hearts of the individuals determined to change the world. 8