“Tome of Stars” is a 100 sonnet journey, equal parts art, therapy journal, and exorcism, both a celebration and an elegy, a single narrative arc tracing the birth and death of a relationship. All poetry by Stargazer. The verse and accompanying synthetic art and music are public domain, CC0, with no restrictions on use. Nothing is monetized. See below for links on how to access the print, PDF, audio, ePub, video, and music files. 
Website: https://www.tomeofstars.net/

In the classical margam of bharatanatyam, the varnam is the recital’s centerpiece, its longest and most emotionally charged performance. In “Tome of Stars“, the varnam appears as the twenty-nine-poem section “Senescence”. Following the exaltation of Anthesis, the beloved as a celestial goddess, love now descends from the stars into the gravity of human frailty. 

This flashback sonnet, the first of the “Once Upon a Time” quartet, reimagines early childhood through the mythic lens of fairy tale, only to invert that tradition into a space of private catastrophe. It narrates the formative experiences of a boy raised in instability, abandonment, and trauma, specifically, maternal sexual and emotional abuse. The verse avoids explicit naming, opting instead for allegorical language that evokes dread and distortion. The tone is solemn and fateful, with a subtle undercurrent of prophecy. The poem suggests that this original rupture in nurturing love would set the course for a lifetime of self-doubt, misjudged bonds, and emotional sabotage.

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Lyrics

Long ere the world had donned its present guise,  
There roamed a child, oppressed by unseen doom.  
Warned early through his cursed, foresighted eyes,  
He dreamed a future drowned in endless gloom.   

A misspent life roved forest lanes unknown;
His mother traced her path from man to man.
No hearth could last—no home to call his own,
His shelter shifted on parched desert sand.

In shadowed dens, between these fractured dawns,
She drank from him what Nature dares not name,
Corrupting love in its most sacred bond,
While innocence bore burden of her shame.

When nurture’s milk becomes a demon’s kiss,
Each poisoned cell is marked for the abyss.

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Internet Archive
Book of sonnets:
https://archive.org/details/tome-of-stars/

Music:
Item 1, Anthesis: https://archive.org/details/Anthesis/
Item 2, Senescence: https://archive.org/details/senescence_tomeofstars
Item 3, Sporogenesis: https://archive.org/details/Sporogenesis_TomeOfStars/
Item 4, Anemochory: https://archive.org/details/Anemochory_TomeOfStars
Item 5, Quixotosis: https://archive.org/details/Quixotosis_TomeOfStars
Item 6, Scripture: https://archive.org/details/Scripture_TomeOfStars

Bandcamp:

Item 1, Anthesis: https://stargazer-elentirmo.bandcamp.com/album/anthesis-item-1-of-tome-of-stars
Item 2, Senescence: https://stargazer-elentirmo.bandcamp.com/album/senescence-item-2-of-tome-of-stars
Item 3, Sporogenesis: https://stargazer-elentirmo.bandcamp.com/album/sporogenesis-item-3-of-tome-of-stars
Item 4, Anemochory: https://stargazer-elentirmo.bandcamp.com/album/anemochory-item-4-of-tome-of-stars
Item 5, Quixotosis: https://stargazer-elentirmo.bandcamp.com/album/quixotosis-item-5-of-tome-of-stars
Item 6, Scripture: https://stargazer-elentirmo.bandcamp.com/album/scripture-item-6-of-tome-of-stars

Once Upon a Time Part 1

Stargazer Elentirmo