The carbon in the skeleton,
The oxygen in the breath,
The iron in the globin :
All seeded by the stars
After the core is imploded—
The cosmic dust :
Silicon, carbon, aluminum
Mostly

[ A millionth of a centimeter ] :
The sand under pelicans,
The flowers and the flesh,
The screendoors that open .
Ghostly,

Stars die that we may live .
Before spacetime spread deeper
The first supernovae exploded,
When ancient blue–white stars
Bathed the universe in light—
The cosmic dawn

[ The first generation of stars ]
A fraction of the current age .

*[ WSB ]_.