The Death of a Star /Exploding of the Star

by Aleena Muzafar

Silence prevails over the sky, but out there in the heavens, death has befallen its child. It screeches and cries, everything there feels like decay, and now is the day. A blast and it’s over. Its light is now captured, its shine fades away, and once used to be, has now become a memory. The mortal realm witnesses it all, for them the scene; what a beauty. The night sky so bright, a magic happening in its air. The luminance shines on everyone’s face, and the sky appears as if pearls traced in a necklace. Yet, scare and fear captivates their heart, that will the same fate cause their end, though they yet like the view. For who wouldn’t like the daughter of the sky? But in its shroud was it still a beauty? In the heavens it forms a grave, like a satin box for a bead. Concealed it hides in the cloth of death, for now she no more has her beauty. On earth they still see the beauty, a beauty which itself denies its beauty. They worry if something might happen to their mother, yet they are cuffed by the locks of their lack of knowledge.

In the heavens, it has now completely faded, and among his comrades, completely forgotten. It can’t lament at this misfortune, and laughs to himself that this, too, shall happen to all of them. The devil in him curses the others and woes them misfortune. And the others, like him, just smile to themselves, for he doesn’t know what she looks like. Her body weaves a cloth of majesty and wonder. Inside her she embodies him, who hates what fate has written for him. He sulks at his luck and envies those dots of mere light. Oh, how the heaven wishes he could see this all, but alas! his eyes are blindfolded by the feeling of grief. On earth, the people can only see its beauty. They try to know who is he, but everything they do leaves them unknown. The heaven now registers it as a mere new being, for what is there never dies, yet it can change its form. The vibrance of him leaves everyone in awe, but he sleeps a slumber of complaint and ungratefulness. It was the final month of its stay on earth. Last night it faded with the clouds in the sky, and with that the people did bid goodbye. As it came back to see its pity state, its eyes filled with grief and tears at the beauty that he appears. He turned his head back to look at the earth to see how many people had always praised its beauty and how that reason was she.

Now it lives with pride in the far and distant sky. From then on goes this tale of a special day. The legends say that the death of a star was the healing of its scar.

Aleena Muzafar is a poet and prose writer whose work navigates the intersections of memory, loss, and transformation. Through rich metaphor and evocative imagery, she crafts lyrical narratives that delve into the complexities of human emotion and the impermanence of beauty. Inspired by cosmic phenomena and intimate human experiences alike, her writing seeks to illuminate moments of quiet revelation and emotional depth, inviting readers to find connection and meaning beyond the tangible world.

Image credit: Hilma af Klint (Swedish, 1862-1944) Group VI, The Evolution, No. 9 (1908)