Apollo asteroid 2014 JO25 is expected to brush by Earth tonight missing us by 1.8 million km. Asteroids and comets both orbit the Sun. Asteroids are rocky, whereas comets are icy.  The Sun’s heat vapourizes material from a comets’ surface; the vapour forms a tail.  This Springtime, while Appollo Asteroid 2014 JO25 flies over us, here is an ode: 

COMET

I pruned the roses, dug up roots
hacked down trees, raked the earth,
scalped the land, couldn’t go far enough                                         while you stood still

You said I was mad, I dug harder
cut through horizons, swept all clean
left you behind                                                                                 on Earth

The view of Earth is blurred from up here
like silver through frost of the breath I blew.
Up here all is clear, there is rock and ravine
smooth-clean, the ground is hard
there is shadow and light I could cut with a knife                              but I won’t.

Occasionally I have a fleeting visitor
his mane is on fire, he is in a hurry
I watch his trail vanish, but he will be back
in the same fuiry, over and over
and over again                                                                                I prefer it like that.