Our star, sitting alone, reading endless stories on that train, yearning for a better life.
Beaten down by others,
yet you continue, helped by the stories you’ve gathered.
Oh, how tragic life is, keeping you from happiness.
Our star, you found your calling after the world’s fall.
Guiding your companions to the best route.
We constantly wonder how your mind works.
How many thoughts go through your head daily?
How much do you know about us?
Why did you save us?
Our star, what do you hide from us?
With all of these walls you put up, it’s hard for us to understand you.
As we look back, we can barely remember your very face,
from the shape of your chin to the curve of your nose
But, once in a while, we get a glimpse of you,
From your kind smile to the galaxies contained within your beautiful eyes.
Our star, shining bright in the night sky,
watching over the family you’ve loved and nurtured.
Do you know we would give the world to relieve you of your pain?
Watching you sacrifice yourself again and again, it pains us.
My star, so cruel to us.
How long has it been since you left?
We just got you back,
yet you give us something incomplete,
only a part of a whole.
Yet, you still decided to leave us
We decided to spread your stories far and wide
to preserve our memories of you.
We have written countless tales, all of your journeys, thoughts, and actions.
Oh, the things we’ll do for you.
We will start from the beginning to try to save you,
for however long it’ll take.
My star, how long has it been since I’ve sought to collect your pieces?
My journey feels endless,
yet I continue.
There are countless things I want to tell you,
feelings I’ve buried in fear of losing them.
My star, oh my shining star, sitting alone, reading endless stories on that train, traveling through the stars,
beaten down by the responsibilities of reality,
yet you continue, watching over our endings,
Oh, how tragic life is, separating you from us.
Author's Commentary
For this poem, I was inspired by the webnovel Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint by Sing Shong. I just started writing, and all of these words just came out of my mind. I used imagery, metaphors, and motifs, like the repeated use of the word star and starting and ending the poem with the train. I believe I structured my poem as a free verse poem, if I remember correctly. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on a theme to explore as I was just writing whatever words I had in mind. For my literary influences, it was a mix of everything I learned in AP Lit. and my past English classes.
About the author: Ethan Chua is someone that likes to read and play video games, thinking of many different ideas, from video games to novels.