Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket by James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Falling Stars
Do you remember still the falling stars

that like swift horses through the heavens raced

and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
 of our wishes--do you recall?
And we 
did make so many!
For there were countless numbers 
of stars: each time we looked above
we were
 astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,

while in our hearts we felt safe and secure

watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,

knowing somehow we had survived their fall.


-Rainer Maria Rilke