The Stars

When I was a child a stranger told me about the starlight.

He said it was more than faint points of wavering white,
And whispered that stars were enormous, heavy, and far, far away.
He recounted to me that the stars were like giant gems of fire,
But bigger and greater and stronger and higher
It was all I could do not to laugh.
Years passed, and I grew up, and one day my father told me,
He was the ruler of the whole wide world, and someday I would be.
He said it would not be so hard; there remained no earth in need of conquering.
But he cautioned me to be kind, wise, and fair,
Because I would be reigning everywhere.
Even if it was just inheritance, the world was a responsibility.
When the day came for my coronation and the entire earth was mine,
I couldnt help but looking up and staring at the skyline.
It was then that I recalled the strangers whisperings again.
Those words from my childhood started lingering in my mind,
And what manner of king would leave such words behind?
No, I had to think on them, for a good long while.
With a view from my tower of all the worlds lands,
And the sceptre of each one clasped in my royal hands,
Maybe it was foolish of me to wish for something more.
But life seemed to be too easy, a challenge grown old.
I was just a prince who would do what hed been told.
I could not even claim new earth for myself as my father had
So after a time, I came to my decision,
Called the philosophers and called the magicians,
And told them wed send a ship into the skies.
I left them to calculate and scheme,
And I receded into a dream,
Of the cities on the heavens that surely lay in our future.
Time passed and men laboured and at first there was success,
A little bit of hope that we thought surely must progress.
We worked ceaselessly and planned victory.
But as time went on, we saw less and less of this
Where there had been hope, there was only my great wish,
And one by one, first philosophers then magicians gave up.

Today none of my people are walking on the skies,

And Ill never know if the strangers words were lies,
But in all honesty Im not regretful; life is hard enough with just one world to watch over.
I think I hope, though, that the strangers words werent deception,
That there are stars that are great beyond comprehension
I suppose Id rather be small than have missed my dreams by a hairs breadth.