Work Text:
It starts like it always does
He was the moon
She was the sun
But then it turns
And there were a thousand asteroids
And a thousand more
And then I was floating
And I wasn’t the sun
Nor the moon
I wasn’t one of the thousands
And that’s when I saw the stars
Picturesque beauty, millions of lights in the dark
And i decided that I wanted to be a star
And they told me, all the suns and the moons and the asteroids, I could shine bright
That I could be a star if I just worked hard
I tried and tried
But I wasn’t a star
Sometimes they thought I was a star
That made me happy
It made me feel bubbly and good
It also made me feel bad and guilty
Because I wasn’t a star
“I’m not sure a star is something you can become”
I wasn’t a shining beautiful light in the darkness
I knew that I wasn’t a sun from the start
Nor a moon
Nor an asteroid
And I wanted to be star so badly
But I wasn’t
Eventually I became tired
And I was so sad that I couldn’t be a star
And I was floating
And I stopped trying to be a star
And they thought I was sick
“But if you’re not a star what are you?”
And I didn’t have an answer
So I floated for a while longer.
And I met the planets
“Hello, I think I’m lost.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mercury
“Well, I don’t really know what I am.”
“I don’t understand, how can you not know what you are?” Asked Mercury
“Well, I only know what I’m not.”
Mercury was silent.
“Are you a sun?” Asked Mercury
“No”
“Are you a moon?” Asked Mercury
“No”
“Are you an asteroid?” Asked Mercury
“No”
“Are you a star?” Asked Mercury
“No”
“Are you a planet?” Asked Mercury
“No”
“Then you must be nothing.” Said mercury
And I floated away
“Hello, I think I’m lost.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Venus
“Well I don’t know what I am, Mercury says I am nothing.”
“Have you tried to find meaning?” Asked Venus
“I have tried to find meaning in the physical.”
“You must find meaning in the non-physical.” Said Venus
And I drifted away
“Hello, what is meaning?”
“Meaning is existence.” Said Earth
“But I am nothing.”
“Nothing is subjective, you must be something because you speak.”
“But speaking is all I do.”
“Then that is something.”
And I drifted away.
“Hello, what is existence?”
“Existence is being.” Said Mars
“But all I do is speak.”
“Speaking is not being.” Said Mars
And I drifted away
“Hello, what am I?”
“You are what you choose to be.” Said Jupiter
“But all I know how to do is speak.”
“Then you are a speaker.” Said Jupiter
“But I don’t want to be a speaker.”
“Then you must try to do something else.”
And I drifted away
“Hello, can you teach me something?”
“What do you want to know?” Asked Saturn
“I don’t know, what is there to know?”
“I cannot answer that question.” Said Saturn.
“Can you teach me to do something, all I can do is speak.”
“I cannot teach you if you do not know what to learn.” Said Saturn
And I drifted away
“Hello”
“Hello” Said Uranus
I was silent
“Can you help me?”
“What do you need help with?” Asked Uranus
“Well I don’t know what I am. Mercury said I was nothing. Venus said I must find meaning. Earth said meaning was existance. Mars said existance is was being. Jupiter said I was a speaker and Saturn couldn’t teach me to be anything else.”
“Then you must be silent.” Said Uranus
And I was silent.
And I drifted away.
“Hello” Said Neptune
And I was silent
“Goodbye” Said Neptune
And was silent.
And I drifted away.
And then there were asteroids.
And then there was nothing.
And there were stars
And they were brilliant.
And I was not.
Because I could not shine.
“If you’re not light, then are you dark?” Asked the nothing
“I don’t know”
“What are you?” Asked the everything
“Shut up”