We Are the Dust of Stars

We are the dust of stars
Exploded long ago.
Dust made the Earth and Mars,
and life began to grow.
Dust turned to flow'rs and trees.
We are such stuff as these.

The atoms of the universe
Combine and recombine
As molecules disperse
Across all space and time.
Through the Milky Way they fly,
Past Planets, Comets and Nebulae.*

My big toe was once part of Pluto.
My elbow has bits that were Spain.
And in another millennium
I can't say to what proscenium
My molecules might pertain.

Who knows what lies in store
For the dust that now is us.
We head for the farther shore
O'er seas most mysterious.
The stars in Heaven's dome
Will welcome us back home.

We are the dust of stars
Exploded long ago.
Picassos and Renoirs,
And everything we know.
Pineapples, birds and bees.
We are such stuff as these.

Coconuts and chimpanzees,
The Alps and the Pyrenees,
We are such stuff as these.
We are the dust of stars.