“There Is a Star in
the Sea”
Pliny, Natural History, Book IX
“There is a star in the sea, and it burns up everything
it touches. Though men who walk
on land deny it,
one night a star fell from the sky and landed in the sea.
It had the good sense to become a fish, but the wit
to keep its shape. It sleeps on the bottom of the sea
but one day I’ll play a trick on it—I’ll turn
the ocean
upside down! Then it will shine again, coral bluff,
rusted galleon in the night
sky, and I will pray to it.”
—Dan Chiasson
Dan Chiasson
is the author of two books of poetry, The Afterlife of Objects
and the forthcoming Natural History.
Originally published in the September/October 2005
issue of Boston Review
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