Stardust on Loan - A Haiku Cycle in Four Movements

I. Origins & Atoms

(awe and science)

1. Recycled Me
   My laugh may contain
   a supernova’s echo
   and some dinosaur.
2. Atomic Confessions
   I’m a patchwork soul—
   Mars dust, Mozart, maybe mold.
   Still, I make it work.
3. Shared Inheritance
   You and I might share
   a cell from Cleopatra—
   or her cat, perhaps.
4. Breath of Ages
   Each breath has been breathed—
   by prophets, pirates, poets,
   and pollen in spring.
5. In the Beginning
   Hydrogen whispered—
   then stars shouted in color.
   Now here I am: me.
6. Old Soul Science
   I’m billions of years
   disguised as someone new.
   Don’t let it fool you.

II. Impermanence & Time

 

(transience, letting go)

7. On Impermanence
   Atoms drift like wind.
   Today they are my body—
   tomorrow, the sea.
8. Memory Foam
   My spine holds echoes
   of stars collapsing in sleep.
   No wonder I ache.
9. Unwritten Will
   This hand once held fire.
   Now it lifts a coffee cup.
   All things find their use.
10. After I’m Gone
    Scatter me gently.
    The stars are always hiring
    new material.
11. Ghost in the Dust
    You can’t hold me fast.
    I am already elsewhere—
    becoming a cloud.
12. Time Travelers
    We don’t age—we shift.
    New shapes for old molecules.
    Time just takes the wheel.

III. Wonder & Whimsy

 

(humor and delight)

13. Stardust Shuffle
    This toe? Martian mud.
    That freckle? A comet’s kiss.
    I sparkle on loan.
14. Biohazard Bag
    Atoms don’t stay put.
    Today I’m me; tomorrow—
    I’m someone’s salad.
15. Sneeze Theory
    I sneeze, and release
    a bit of ancient starlight.
    Bless you, universe.
16. Dating Advice
    Tell them with a smile:
    “I’m made of exploded things—
    so handle with awe.”
17. Alien Possibility
    My elbow once danced
    on Saturn’s fourth-best moon. Maybe.
    Science says, “Could be!”
18. The Real Horoscope
    Stars don’t write my fate.
    They are my fate—tucked beneath
    skin, blood, hair, and hope.

IV. Meaning & Mystery

 

(spiritual and philosophical)

19. Inheritance
    I carry silence
    from before the first heartbeat—
    deep in every cell.
20. Cosmic Prayer
    May I be worthy
    of the dust that built this form—
    each mote a blessing.
21. To the One Who Waits
    If you feel alone,
    know this: you breathe what I breathed.
    We are linked by breath.
22. Stargazer’s Lament
    They say “shooting star.”
    But I know it as return—
    falling into self.
23. When I Forget
    Sometimes I forget
    that I am made of starlight—
    then the moon reminds.
24. Final Form
    Not fire, not water—
    I am what becomes of both:
    a shimmer of thought.