Israel Allen
Forgetting Cassiopeia
For Tycho Brahe
I remember your noses,
one sterling silver,
the other jewel-encrusted gold,
brilliant, I would guess,
like the ever-flaming hydrogen
you found in distant skies.
I remember you died discolored,
a burst bladder and a coma
the culmination of your decorum,
bacteria and enzymes ignited,
biological supernovas
burning your proud innards.
But I forget your prominence,
sublime discoveries eclipsed
by these eccentricities
revolving in my mind.