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Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) French-American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer.

Echo

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.

O dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimful of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 –1894), was an English writer born in London. She authored many romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Britain: "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Love Came Down at Christmas", She was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti II and features in several of his paintings.

This poem is in the public domain.

Raoul Croes on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Could the Little Mermaid turn into stardust instead of seafoam? It would seem so in this beautiful nebula. The featured image shows the Mermaid Nebula, also known as the Betta Fish Nebula, which is part of the G296.5+10.0 Supernova Remnant. The blue color visible here originates from doubly ionized oxygen (OIII), while the deep red is emitted by hydrogen gas. Estimated to be located a few thousand light-years away and about 10,000 years old, this nebula was formed when a massive star exploded as a supernova. It left behind a peculiar pulsar, a young radio-quiet neutron star that spins around about twice every second. The bright stars shown in the image are unassociated with the nebula. The pulsar can be detected in the X-rays but it does not have a confirmed detection in the optical (visible light) so far. As a result, the pulsar itself is not visible in this image.

Photo by Data acquisition: Sy Ming Wong; Processing: Guangyan Gao Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

By Zoë Reeve on Unsplash

Captured with Sony DSLR-A230.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What looks as if it is going to swallow the great Pillars of Creation? The Eagle Nebula (M16) is not a bird, a plane, or Superman. M16 is actually a combination of several celestial objects. NGC 6611 is the young star cluster that appears to peak out beneath the Eagle’s “wings”. The ultraviolet light from these stars ionizes the surrounding gas, creating the emission nebula IC 4703. The Stellar Spire is seen reaching towards the Pillars of Creation from the left. Both are structures of cold gas and dust that are optimal for star formation. Some astronomers previously thought the Pillars of Creation had been evaporated away by a supernova. Because M16 is 6,000 light years away, we would not be able to see the Pillars’ destruction for thousands more years. However, there is no conclusive evidence of the theorized supernova, so the Pillars of Creation will likely continue to create stars for millions of years.

Photo by Emmanuel Delgadillo Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

sutirta budiman on Unsplash

A herd of zebras in the savannah of Maasai Mara National Reserve.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown by a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This sharp image is a combination of deep images taken in light emitted by hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue). The star in the center of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years. Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995)

Photo by Josep Drudis, Christian Sasse

Kwun Yeung on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What happens to a comet as it leaves our inner Solar System? Now, the arrival of a comet into the inner Solar System is typically heralded with great fanfare and high hopes that the comet will become bright and photogenic. But on the way out, the comet's nucleus is less warmed by the Sun, less gas and dust are expelled, the bright coma around the nucleus shrinks and fades, and the tail length drops off. Many comets will then return to the outer Solar System and only return in hundreds or thousands of years. In contrast, some comets -- like Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) -- receive a gravitational kick from the planets and so will never return. Pictured, Comet R3 PanSTARRs was imaged deeply many nights in early to mid-May near Cerro Paranal in Chile. Later images appear closer to the top and clearly show the shrinking ion tail. Comet R3 Gallery: Comet R3 PanSTARRS in 2026

Photo by Jakub Kuřák & Martin Mašek (FZU of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

David Clode on Unsplash

These unusual rays have a comical look to them. This one seemed to pose for me, and seemed to want to be photographed.