Tribute to the Small

Some are Suns, and some are Moons,
And some of us are Stars;
And some of us shine brightly
In this universe of ours;
The greatest ones shine bright and clear
Outshining all the rest;
But is it brilliance and size
That make the best men best?
The Suns are great ones, kings and queens,
Heroes and millionaires;
They are what common men call great
Mixed up in world affairs;
The Moons are lesser, dimmer folk
Yet still quite widely known;
But Stars seem normal to us all
Until they’re seen alone.
The Suns hold thrones and kingdoms
And glow in government;
Powerful, just as great Sol
Rules in the firmament;
But when the darker times are come
And blacken out to-day;
It’s the Moons that shine the brightest
When the Suns have fled away.
When the Suns have hid their brilliance
Behind the darkened hills;
The Moons shine on, undaunted,
As the sky grows darker still;
But then a day will come at last
When even Moons resign;
Then the Stars will shine the brightest
When there’s nothing else to shine.The Stars are men and women
Who have toiled without a word;
Who have fought for all creation
Quite regardless of reward;
They don’t give up no matter how
Judicious it may seem;
For the Stars can go on dreaming
When there’s nothing left to dream.
In the darkness pierced by diamonds
Black as death but for their light;
When the hardest times have driven
Suns and Moons from out of sight;
When the Infinite surrounds them
As it has from the beginning;
It’s the Stars that keep on shining.
It’s the Stars that keep on winning.
In the dim despairing trials
That have blackened out the day;
That have driven away rejoicing
And led other lights astray;
In that vague dream called the future
Is the undiminished scope
Of the things that still can happen
When the Stars don’t cease to Hope.
And all the great things Suns have done
And all the Moons’ great quests
Are forgotten in the starlight
Piercing through that barrenness;
When the biggest things are conquered
Which we thought too big to fall;
Then the Stars, which seem the smallest,
Are the biggest things of all."

Comments

Additional Resources

Get AI Feedback on your poem

Interested in feedback on your poem? Try our AI Feedback tool.
 

 

If You Need Support

If you ever need help or support, we trust CrisisTextline.org for people dealing with depression. Text HOME to 741741