Listen closely, child
I'll tell you a tale
It begins, as most tales do, with a
Once upon a time
Once upon a time I tried to catch
A falling star
It screamed
Screamed at me to leave it be
That suicidal star
But I couldn't
I wouldn't
I caught it anyways
It bit and struggled and cried
But I would not let it go
It fought me with all it's will
But I would not let it go
At last, exhausted it spoke to me
Asked me what I wanted
From a star tired of living
You know what I said?
Of course you don't,
I have yet to tell you
Patience, child
I said to it
That I wanted a wish
Just one wish
(for back in those days it was all the rage to get a wish from a fallen star)
It nodded, trembling
And I felt pity for the suicidal star
I wondered
What had driven it to leap from it's
Place in the Heavens
I said, not daring to believe it
That I wanted a flying carpet
Not a dingy, used one
A magic one, a first class
Grade A flying carpet
Preferably with a nice pattern
And so my wish was granted
And I bid farewell to the star
Who looked at me with such dejection
I felt a pang of guilt
Then
It walked off on it's little star legs
Never to be seen again
I flew and I flew on my flying carpet
Racing towards the sky
Wind in my hair
But then
In the night I saw another star
With a small scream
A cry of release
It jumped
And fell and fell and fell
I could've saved it
But then remembered my own poor star
I remembered that star's pain
Suddenly
Each star cried out
Each singing its own song of pain
Pain for that lonely star
Pain for their own terror and sorrow
And they all lept
Until the sky was nothing but black
With those twinkling stars
That lay dying on the ground
And the moon shed a tear
One single tear
For her children who had chosen death
Over life
Until she was eaten away by sorrow
Needless to say, my child
I don't go catching stars anymore