NEOWISE 

A faithless comet promised luck
To Bonaparte's far-reaching eye.
The wavering Creeks watched, thunderstruck,
Tecumseh, pointing to the sky.
Pantribalism! Slavs undone!
The comet passed behind the sun.
In his Pleasure Garden sits
An old man, talking with a bird.
Beyond the roses, Covid spits
On the vast, unruly herd.
Sounds of the Space Force bombardier
Assail his fine musician's ear.
Now, in prophetic exercise,
A comet visits, tail unfurled.
What wisdom comes with Neowise
To our self-consuming world?
The old man studies (bird deployed)
The plasma streaming toward the void.

Ellen E Taylor