A BLACK HOLE IN SPACE

High in the sky many light years away,
Lies a star, a bright super giant star.
I was looking at in one day in May,
Thinking the distance is very far.

This star, once every five and one half days,
Circles around a mysterious friend.
This companion does not emit rays,
Therefore to Earth, light it cannot send.

Utterly tiny at thirty miles,
This companion is called a black hole.
Its size is so small you can be all smiles,
At this remarkably condensed ball.

For a material body it’s not,
It possesses no ponderable face.
The gravity attraction is a lot,
Yet it’s a region of empty space.

Where the hole now stands was once a big star,
But alas the gravity was too strong,
The material was pulled in afar.
To stay in for ever, ever so long.

Now, the absolute event horizon
Acts as the boundary surface of the hole,
Parting inner and outer region,
Of the extraordinary ball.

The inner region in which the star fell,
Is a region where nothing can escape.
To be in one of those would be like hell,
As physical laws do not relate.

Although, from black holes nothing can escape,
Matter, light, and signals can all fall in.
For a vacuum cleaner it does relate,
Sweeping the Cosmos for matter to win.

The companion star to this black hole,
Due to gravity, it’s pear shaped.
Matter from this star, the black hole does draw,
Pulling the star inwards at a slow rate.

A Russ 1974